


Chaos Rising

by HarleyJQuin



Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bad Friend Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), M/M, Murder Basement, Sterek Bingo, Sterek Bingo 2020, sbdeaged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:33:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24161386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarleyJQuin/pseuds/HarleyJQuin
Summary: After a night spent in the Argent murder basement Stiles was more than ready for things to change.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727686
Comments: 465
Kudos: 1177





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Chaos Rising [traduccion]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28943631) by [yuki_yuki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuki_yuki/pseuds/yuki_yuki)



> Sterek Bingo 2020  
> Square: De-aged

**April 2011**

Peter slowly approached the house when he saw his nephew sitting on the front steps. He threw a bag at his feet and he said, “You need to go check on your human.”

Derek frowned and as he cautiously approached the bag he asked, “What?”

“Your human,” Peter repeated as if that explained everything. When he saw Derek still wasn’t getting it he rolled his eyes and he explained, “Stiles, the only one in your pack of misfit toys I don’t dislike.”

Derek scowled and ground out, “He’s not my human. He’s part of Scott’s pack.”

Peter shook his head and argued, “No nephew, he really isn’t, when Scott left the warehouse he went with Chris and Allison, he didn’t even give Stiles a second glance. Even I could smell with my diminished senses that Stiles was injured, seriously injured, and it wasn't from driving his Jeep through the wall. He couldn’t even get out of the jeep when Jackson jumped on the hood.”

Peter crouched down and he opened the bag at his feet, he explained, “I followed Gerard out of that warehouse. He stunk of blood, some of it was your wayward betas. But most of it was Stiles' blood, and there was a fair bit of it judging by the smell.”

Derek glanced in the bag and he grimaced at seeing Gerard’s head still covered in black goo. “Do I need to worry about reprisals for this?”

Peter shook his head, “No, I left the rest of him in various wild animal dens in the preserve. This is going to the hunters council with the evidence I have collected proving he ordered Kate to annihilate several peaceful packs. They have already been investigating after the fire that took out our family. While you are checking on Stiles I will go have words with Christopher about your betas. I think he needs a reminder about the fact that this is Hale territory, not Argent territory.”

Derek shook his head and he walked to the car, as he opened the door he turned to his uncle and he glanced down at the bag and he said, “Thank you. Just, well, thanks. I will let you know what’s going on with Stiles as soon as I know.” He was grateful they had talked over Laura’s death and that Peter had agreed to therapy sessions with his therapist from New York via Skype, the agreement, along with the pack bond, allowed him to trust that Peter would do everything he could to protect Hale Pack territory as his left hand.

Derek pulled up at the Stilinski house behind the Jeep, he was surprised to see Stiles sitting in the Jeep not moving. He slowly approached the driver's side and he quietly opened the door so as not to scare Stiles.

Stiles wheezed, “Hey Sourwolf… if you are… here for my… epic google… fu I am afraid… you are shit… outta luck.”

Derek leaned in and he could smell the blood hidden under the layer of fresh clothes, he could also hear Stiles usual rabbiting heart rate almost skyrocketing as he struggled to breathe. He leaned in and he quietly asked, “If I move you is that likely to cause more damage from broken bones shifting? Or do I need to call an ambulance?”

Stiles smirked sardonically, and he slowly wheezed, “I think… any more damage… was done… when I drove… Roscoe… through a wall… into a lizard. Adrenaline can… only take me… so far.”

Derek leaned in and he gently lifted Stiles out of the Jeep and as he moved to place Stiles in the passenger seat of the Camaro he pulled what pain he could. Unfortunately, Stiles was in more pain than was practical for one wolf to pull. He said, “Give me a minute to lock up the Jeep and make sure the house is secure then we will get you to the hospital.”

Stiles pulled on Derek’s sleeve urgently when Derek eventually got into the driver's side of the Camaro, he said, “No Melissa.” He saw Derek frown so he clarified, “She will tell… Scott.”

Derek shook his head, he explained, “I will remind her that HIPAA exists for a reason. I will also get Peter to find and explain things to your Dad before he sees you. You’re a mess, Stiles. Gerard really did a number on you.”

Stiles nodded slightly, “Find… your betas…”

Derek started the car as he confirmed, “Peter is already at the Argent house looking for them.” He asked, “Is there anything else I should know before we go to the hospital?”

Stiles nodded slightly, he gestured to himself with the less injured hand and he wheezed, “Allison… helped.”

“Well fuck!” Derek exclaimed resignedly. He asked, “Chris?”

Stiles shook his head, he wheezed, “He had… no idea…”

Derek pulled out and he headed to the hospital as he drove he made a call. He knew it wasn’t a great move while driving and he could smell Stiles' disapproval sharp through the coppery smell of blood, but it was urgent.

As soon as the call connected he snapped out, “Peter, I am taking him to hospital. Yep. Did you find Chris? Good. Make it clear to him that Allison stays the fuck away from all of us. She helped torture Stiles and that means she likely helped with the betas. Stiles confirmed Gerard has them. Fuck, ok. Look, you need to find the Sheriff. He needs to know whats going on before you bring him to the hospital. Yes, all of it. Oh stop being a baby, he doesn’t have wolfsbane in his bullets. Once I get Stiles sorted at the hospital we will regroup and start the search for the betas. The sheriff may even be able to help with the search parties if we make it official.”

He hung up just as he pulled into the hospital car park. He parked up in a quiet corner then reached in and lifted Stiles gently out of the Camaro. He said, “Are you with me, Stiles.”

Stiles nodded slightly, he confirmed with a wheezy, “Yep… Just painful… Pain suck helped… Thanks.”

Derek carried him into the ER and he called out, “I need help!”

When the nurse came over with a gurney he gently put Stiles down. Stiles reached out and grabbed his sleeve and refused to let go. “Don’t… leave…”

Derek nodded, he confirmed, “I will stay until your dad gets here ok.”

Melissa bustled over, she said, “What have you gotten into now Stiles? Let me go call Noah and Scott.”

Stiles looked shocked and he looked at the original nurse and he wheezed a panicked, her name was Kara according to her name tag, “No!”

Derek smelled the hurt radiating from Stiles and he said, “No, I already have someone out looking for the Sheriff and if you call or even hint to Scott about Stiles being here I will have you up on every HIPAA charge I can find. I won’t have him here stressing him out and victim shaming considering it was his psycho girlfriend and her grandfather that did this to him.”

She scoffed and she asked, “How do we know it wasn’t you who did this. You were recently accused of murder, twice.”

Derek raised an eyebrow and counted with, “You would know considering it was your son that accused me both times. Given that Stiles is using the last of his strength to make sure I don't leave him alone in here I think he has made his feelings clear. Until he or his father says otherwise, you won't be treating him and Scott doesn’t find out. Clear?”

She snapped out an angry, “Crystal.” Before she stalked off to call in the on-call doctors.

Derek looked down to see Stiles looking relieved. He said, “Thanks… Sourwolf.”

He looked up to see the nurse checking Stiles over, he asked, “Kara? Can we get him somewhere private? I would like to see him somewhere safe and out of the visual range of anyone looking to finish the job.”

Kara nodded and she pushed the gurney with help from Derek to one of the private treatment rooms to wait for the on-call doctor. She held up her scissors and she explained, “Stiles?” She waited until she could see Stiles was mostly paying attention, she could see he was fairly out of it due to the pain he was in, “I need to cut your clothing off so the doctor can do a full assessment of your injuries, are you ok doing this with your friend in the room.”

Stiles nodded and increased his grip on Derek’s sleeve. Derek used his foot to pull one of the chairs over to beside the gurney and when he sat down he pulled Stiles' hand and he interlaced their fingers. He murmured into Stiles' ear, “Relax, I won’t go anywhere until your Dad arrives. Ok?”

Stiles nodded and he looked relieved, he looked at the scissors then back at Kara and he wheezed, “Go… For it.”

As she was cutting off the clothing and putting it into plastic bags she asked, “Do we need to run a kit, Stiles?” 

Stiles shook his head and he confirmed, “No… Just threats.”

Derek gently squeezed Stiles hand, he confirmed, “His attacker’s granddaughter was in the room helping with the torture.”

Stiles smirked, “He said… she had limits… whips and chains… are fine… rape is not… ok…”

Derek muttered, “He’s fine with it when it’s his daughter doing it.”

Stiles squeezed his hand in support. He looked over when the doctor barged into the room.

He saw Stiles on the gurney his torso and face already black and blue. “I’m Dr. Crowley, can someone tell me what happened here?”

Derek squeezed Stiles' hand and he looked at him and said, “Let me, save your breath for actually breathing.” He looked up at the doctor and he explained, “Stiles disappeared from the Lacrosse field after the championship game. From what Stiles has told me he was taken by Gerard Argent, the school principal, he was being held in a basement with two of the teens I tutor, Erica Reyes and Vernon Boyd. He had Erica and Boyd bound but he spent at least 6 hours torturing Stiles, he said Gerard kept asking about me and the tutoring I do. I saw Stiles an hour ago in his Jeep and he looked banged up but ok and he told me about Erica and Boyd and he asked me to check on them. I went to see them but neither of them has made it home. Something told me to check on Stiles and I found him in his driveway, still in his Jeep struggling to breathe so I brought him here.”

Derek looked over at Stiles and found him looking back with wide eyes, Stiles wheezed, “You found… words Sourwolf… so proud.”

Dr. Crowley started his examination of Stiles, he said, “Speaking is clearly an issue so we will use the blink system ok. Typical one blink for yes, two blinks for no. Ok?” 

Stiles blinked.

They went through the examination, an ultrasound, and a head injury check and once Stiles was hooked up for fluid replacement Dr. Crowley sent Stiles off for x-rays. Kara accompanied them so she could assist in radiology and get the X-rays done faster. While they were waiting, a text came through to Derek’s phone. 

From Peter: Found Stiles phone smashed in the Argent basement, will organize a replacement. On my way to the hospital with the Sheriff. He is alerting deputies to kidnapping and your missing betas.

To Peter: K. Waiting for Stiles to finish in X-ray, Melissa angry, threatened her with HIPAA charges if she told Scott. Warn the sheriff. She is angry.

From Peter: Scott already tried to blame Stiles for being kidnapped. The sheriff just stared at him until he went away.

To Peter: We will be back in the ER soon. Text when you are outside and I will ask the nurse to find you.

As they headed back down to the ER Derek squeezed Stiles' hand and he asked Kara, “The sheriff and my uncle are on their way to the hospital. When they get here can you get someone to bring them back here?”

Kara nodded, she confirmed, “Leave it with me.” She ducked out to organize it.

While she was out Derek said, “Peter found your phone, it looks like Gerard or Allison destroyed it, he said he will organize a replacement for you. Knowing Peter he will do what he can to recover the data from your old phone for you.” He glanced up at the door to make sure it wasn’t going to open suddenly and he heard Kara outside arranging for the Sheriff and a civilian to be escorted back when they arrive. He murmured quietly, “Peter explained everything to your dad. He's organizing for search parties for the betas. He's pissed at Scott who was at the Argents.”

Derek looked down and he felt bad for asking but he had to know, he asked, “Did you know what Scott had planned for me?”

Stiles frowned in confusion and he blinked twice.

Derek took a deep breath and he said, “Scott worked with Gerard as he wanted the bite. Scott held me while I was under the influence of Kanima venom and he forced me to bite Gerard.”

Stiles blinked many times rapidly. He said, “Hell no… That's like… rape.” Stiles looked horrified.

Kara walked back into the room accompanied by the Sheriff and Peter. Noah almost ran to the bed. “Jesus kiddo. What a way to celebrate your birthday, what did that bastard do to you?”

Stiles rolled his eyes and wheezed, “What didn’t… he do. Allison only… used the… shock stick.”

Dr. Crowley chose that moment to walk in with a folder full of X-rays. He turned to face the group and he looked at Stiles as he asked, “Are you happy for everyone to be here as we discuss your injuries?” 

Stiles blinked and he refused to relinquish Derek's hand.

The doctor flicked on the lightboxes and he placed several X-rays for viewing. He started, “From what we can gather he was hit with a blunt instrument at some point across his ribs and as he can see here,” He gestured to the first lightbox, “He has 4 broken ribs on his right side which is why he is having difficulty breathing. You can see here this one is a complete break and we would like to go in stabilize it with pins and plates.”

Noah nodded in agreement so Dr. Crowley moved to the next box, “Stiles also has a break in his forearm which is what we often see in someone who is using their arm to shield their head from a blow. It has moved around a bit judging by the swelling so we would like to also pin and plate the break to give him the best chance of healing.”

Noah asked, “What sort of healing time frame are we looking at for the surgery vs just putting it in a cast? Will the break heal without the surgery?”

Dr. Crowley shook his head and he pointed at the various points in the break as he explained, “There is a 50/50 chance that if we just put it in a cast that the bone will set wrong and it will need to be re-broken in the future so it sets properly.”

Peter asked, “What about the bruising? Doesn’t severe bruising often indicate internal damage?”

Dr. Crowley nodded, he said, “We did an ultrasound earlier and while he has bruised kidneys and there is obviously an issue with his breathing, there was luckily no damage to any of his other internal organs and his lungs do appear to be ok. He does have severe bruising and blood loss due to lacerations from what looks like a whip or something similar so we would like to keep him in for a few days after the surgery to make sure the wounds don’t get infected and that he has no complications from the surgery.” He turned to Stiles and he asked, “Stiles have you eaten anything since lunchtime?”

Stiles shook his head and blinked twice.

Dr. Crowley turned to Noah and he said, “I have a nurse organizing the consent forms now at the nurses station, I would like to get him into surgery so we can sort his rib and get a chest drain in asap.”

Noah nodded, he looked down and he saw that Stiles had dozed off, he asked, “Can you please make sure that any visitors are cleared through myself or one of the Hales? And I would prefer that either myself or one of the Hales are with him at all times. I don’t have the manpower to assign a deputy to him due to the recent losses but he is still at risk as Gerard Argent is in the wind and we can’t arrest Allison until we have a statement from Stiles detailing what happened.”

Peter cleared his throat as the doctor nodded, “Also can you please make sure Nurse McCall isn’t assigned to him. Her son is dating one of his attackers. She’s already had a go at him tonight with a side of subtle victim-blaming.” 

Dr. Crowley nodded as he left to find the consent forms. 

Noah turned to Derek and he asked, “Can you stay with him for now? I want to get the search parties started for both Gerard and the two teens who are still missing. Chris Argent said he found them in the basement after the warehouse incident and he released them but they haven’t returned home.”

Derek nodded, he turned to Peter and he said, “You keep him safe and both of you keep in touch. Peter make sure the sheriff has my number.”

Peter nodded and they both headed to find Dr. Crowley at the nurse's station to sign the consent forms.


	2. Chapter Two

**April 2011**

“Ugh” Stiles groaned, “Did anyone get the number of that truck?”

Stiles looked over at his dad who was passed out beside the bed before he heard the chuckle from the other side of the room.

Derek walked over and he slightly shook the sheriff to wake him.

Noah sat up and saw Stiles was awake and he exclaimed, “Stiles!”

Stiles smiled with a slight grimace as he pulled at his split lip as he reassured, “Hey Daddio. I’m ok.”

Noah raised his eyebrows. “Stiles!” He admonished, “You are not fine, you are anything but fine!”

Stiles turned to look at Derek and he asked, “What's the damage?”

Derek rolled his eyes, but he knew Stiles was trusting him to be blunt. “Several broken ribs, wrist, bruised kidneys, and you are literally a walking bruise.”

Stiles snickered, “I feel like it. Trust me.”

Noah ruffled Stiles’ buzz cut as he lamented, “They can’t give you the good painkillers until we have your statement.”

Derek interrupted as he explained, “No pain drain either sorry, it leaves humans just as loopy as the good painkillers when you are this injured.”

“Fine,” Stiles huffed. They spent five minutes going over the statement he was going to make, Stiles asked that Derek took Noah to see Lydia and Jackson. They needed a crash course in the supernatural and Noah needed to make sure Lydia and Jackson backed up the statement Stiles was about to make, once that was settled Noah leaned out the door and he gestured for Tara Graeme to enter.

She walked in and she gasped when she saw the state Stiles was in.

Stiles’ face fell and he rasped, “You should see the other guy,” He saw Peter and Derek share a look but he thought nothing of it.

Noah asked Peter, “Can you stay here and guard him, I need to take Derek and get a statement about Erica and Boyd’s movements for the past few days.”

Once they had left and Peter was comfortable in the chair beside Stiles’ hospital bed, Tara set up her voice recorder and she took out her notepad, she nodded to Stiles before she stated, “Right kiddo, how about we start with you going through what you can remember.”

Stiles took her through the events of the night before, starting with being grabbed off the field by Gerard’s goons during the confusion, he described being thrown down the stairs in the Argent basement, literally thrown. He went through the various weapons used by Gerard and Allison while they tried to get him to give up details on Derek Hale. Stiles explained how Erica and Boyd were being strung up and attached to electrical cable hooked up to a generator that Allison said she had taken them down and captured them in the preserve. He also detailed Lydia finding him after he had been dropped off to his jeep in the high school car park after the torture and how she asked for his help to get to a warehouse where Gerard and Allison were holding Jackson Whittemore. He described driving his jeep through the wall to distract the Argents while Lydia pulled Jackson into the Jeep and they took off.

He knew it was flimsy but he couldn’t think of any other way to explain it without the supernatural being mentioned.

Tara asked a few questions to clarify the statement and she asked for descriptions of the various goons that were involved in his kidnapping. Once she was done she turned off her voice recorder and packed up her notepad before she turned to Peter with a knowing look on her face as she asked, “Gerard is dealt with?”

Peter raised his eyebrows in question but he and Stiles both stayed quiet.

She huffed, “Your sister Talia was a good friend, she said you were important to the pack, that as the left hand you dealt with any and all threats to the pack.”

Peter looked to Stiles with a raised eyebrow as if to ask, ‘you know her, do you trust her?’

Stiles gave a brief nod in return. He was curious about Peter’s answer.

Peter reached out with his senses to ensure no one was close enough to overhear before he answered, “His head is on the way to the hunter's council with the evidence I have collected of his crimes. He and his daughter Kate have annihilated four packs that I have found.”

Stiles corrected him, “Six, they have taken out six peaceful packs including the Hale pack from what I have been able to find.” He looked furtively at Tara before he continued, “I have found evidence of Kate taking out the Talbot, Hale, Nero, Stevenson, Cox, and Doran packs. I also found proof of Gerard being in town and leaving just before the packs were taken out.”

Tara scrubbed her face with her hands, “Jesus,” she mumbled, “How did no one pick up on this?”

Stiles shrugged and he explained, “Bribes mostly although I have no proof of the bribes, it's mostly circumstantial and guesswork at this point. I am still learning… you know what, never mind.”

Tara nodded, she ignored Stiles slip, she looked at Peter and she asked, “Does that match up to what you sent to the council?”

Peter pulled out his tablet and he looked up the details he sent through before he showed the tablet to Stiles, “Ok, so you have two that I found and four that I didn’t. What I sent should be enough to justify his death in accordance with the hunter's code, we will hold your evidence in reserve, just in case they get it in their heads to dispute it.” Peter looked up and he gave Stiles a hard look, “You are sure that Chris was not involved with your kidnapping? That he didn’t know?”

Stiles shook his head, he looked down at his hands before he mumbled, “Chris helped me gather the evidence against his family. I think, in time, he could be a good ally for the pack.”

Peter vehemently shook his head but Tara interrupted before he could bite out a scathing reply. “Right, I need to go organize a warrant for Allison’s arrest and a search warrant so we can search the Argent basement for evidence. Stiles, you rest up and heal fast, ok?” 

Stiles nodded as she left, resting back as the nurse came in to set up his IV with painkillers and Peter helped out with a subtle pain drain.

-x-

Chris brought Allison into the sheriff’s station after he got a text from Peter detailing her involvement with Stiles attack. She was charged with three charges of kidnapping of a minor, assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault, and possession of a prohibited weapon. Chris, spent a few hours in an interrogation room enlightening Allison to the truth of what happened with Victoria but Allison refused to listen or accept that she was wrong in her actions to the two betas or Stiles. Based on her complete lack of remorse Chris refused to pay the $1 million bail that was set at her arraignment and she was held in a Juvie center two counties over while waiting for her trial date. She was facing at least 15 years in prison if found guilty.

The summer passed quickly, Stiles officially joined the Hale pack and with Peter’s help, he pushed Derek into buying somewhere for the pack to live that wasn’t a derelict house or a condemned subway station. They ended up in a partially developed apartment building in the industrial district of Beacon Hills. Derek settled on the top floor loft apartment with Peter and they spent time fixing up the building and securing it for pack use. 

Isaac moved into one of the spare bedrooms in Derek’s apartment and he had picked out an apartment on one of the lower floors to renovate for when he turned 18 and could live on his own. Lydia and Jackson spent time with the pack a few times a week to learn what it means to be pack and Jackson spent time with Peter learning how to control his wolf but also testing to see if the Kanima shift could be brought back without the master. Peter’s books seemed to imply it could be trained but there was nothing definite.

Scott was determined to stay away from the Hale pack which was fine with both Derek and Peter. He and Stiles had a spectacular fight about a week after Allison was arrested.

Scott cornered Stiles in his driveway as he arrived home from the loft, he roared, “You had her arrested!”

Stiles raised an eyebrow in challenge, he was learning a lot from Derek. With one hand he dialed Peter with his phone still in his pocket knowing the older wolf would answer his phone as he responded to Scott's demand. “It's amazing that you think I have that much control over the actions of the US justice system.” Stiles face changed into an expression of pure rage, and he screamed, “She and her psychotic grandfather kidnapped me and the pair of them tortured me for six freaking hours, Scott. I was in the hospital for a week and I now have pins and plates holding my bones together due to their actions. THEY NEARLY KILLED ME.”

The Sheriff’s cruiser and the Camaro both pulled up as Scott roared in reply, “LIES! You ran away from the game and you made up a story so you didn't look bad in front of Lydia.”

Noah, Peter, and Derek walked up and bracketed Stiles, Noah spoke up, “Scott, you need to leave.”

Scott yelled, “No, he lied to have Allison arrested. He has to pay for that.”

Noah held up his hand in a quelling motion, “Scott,” he demanded, “If you don’t leave now I will be filing a restraining order. Stiles had nothing to do with the decision to arrest Allison the witness statements and evidence are why she was arrested. She was facing felony kidnapping and assault charges Scott, she is facing a very long time in jail.”

Scott shook his head, he muttered, “It’s all lies.” As he stormed off.

They all went inside, the Hales stuck around to make sure that Scott didn’t return. Derek said, “Scott is going to be a problem.”

Stiles sighed, “He won’t accept his wolf but he loves the advantages it gives him. The strength and stamina, the lack of asthma holding him back. Yet he still calls it the worst thing that ever happened to him.”

Noah sighed, “The kid needs a reality check, Melissa isn’t being much better. She is still angry at being kept away from Stiles at the hospital. Refuses to accept that Gerard and Allison put him there.”

Derek rolled his eyes, he commented resignedly, “Scott’s going omega. The longer it continues he will lose control and eventually he will go feral. He has to join a pack so the pack bonds can bring him back to an even keel.”

Stiles smacked Derek on the chest, and he demanded, “Not our pack. Promise me! He betrayed us all and he forced you to bite Gerard. There is nothing he can say or do to justify that.”

“No,” Derek replied, “But what other options are there?”

Peter cleared his throat, he suggested, “You could ask Satomi? Alpha Ito, she often takes in young omega wolves and she’s only about 30 minutes away. Her betas that are high school age tend to attend Devonford Prep.”

Noah asked Peter, “Can you approach her and see if she’s open to accepting Scott?”

Peter smirked, he snarked, “You would be better off approaching her with Derek. She doesn’t believe in having a pack left hand. She also disapproves of my current status.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow, “She has something against zombies?”

Peter rolled his eyes but nodded while Derek and Noah both stifled snorts. Derek squeezed his shoulder as he said, “Leave it with me Uncle. She will probably keep an eye on things before approaching him. Part of me wants to offer that the Hale Pack pay for a scholarship to Devonford Prep as reparations for Peter biting Scott. But that will confirm to Scott and Melissa that it was a bad thing and not the gift it really was.”

Noah shook his head, he suggested, “No, I wouldn’t recommend approaching either Scott or Melissa about it, they won’t take it well. Maybe suggest it to Satomi. That she can offer it as part of him joining her pack. We can always talk to her about it.”

Derek and Stiles worked together a lot over the summer, Derek arranged for himself and Chris to teach Stiles self-defense so he could better protect himself if he was taken or attacked again. Noah also resumed Stiles shooting sessions down at the range, Chris was able to supply a good range of firearms to train with. Stiles was back to being scarily accurate in no time once his ribs had fully healed. Chris and Derek were happy to see that one of the weapons he excelled at was the Barrett M99 50. Cal sniper rifle. It was large enough to affect most supernatural creatures and Chris had a press that was able to augment the rounds with wolfsbane. 

Stiles also spent time with mountain ash, testing what he was able to do with it. Peter and Derek wanted him to always carry some on him at all times just in case he was ever cornered by Scott again.

Near the end of the summer break, they were no closer to a resolution with Scott who was getting more and more out of control each full moon. A notice had gone out to the major hunting families to inform them that one of their members had been found guilty of breaking the code and had been executed. Chris received a call from Araya Calavera asking for details but he referred her back to the Hunter’s Council.

One night when the betas, Lydia and Stiles were having a movie night at the Stilinski house, (thankfully not The Notebook since Stiles copy of the DVD accidentally got broken into many many pieces after was it was introduced to a hammer. At Speed. Many many times in a row.) Peter cornered Derek and he asked, “When are you going to tell him?”

Derek looked at Peter in confusion and he asked, “Tell who what?”

Peter with a droll look on his face he stated, “Tell Stiles that he is your mate.”

Derek flinched, “He’s 16 for fuck's sake. I wasn’t planning to approach him until he is at least 18.” 

Peter pulled Derek into a hug and he murmured quiet enough so the betas wouldn’t hear him, “You’re not Kate and he’s 17, he turned 17 the day Gerard dragged him into the murder basement.” He rolled his eyes so hard Derek felt it and he said, “That young man is 17 going on 42.” 

Derek asked confused, “But they only just finished their Sophomore year. Right?”

Peter chuckled, “He was held back when he missed nearly six months of school while he was seeing specialists about his ADHD and while his mom was in the hospital. You should at least tell him. The pining from the pair of you is driving us all nuts." Peter smelled the disbelief on Derek so he got serious and he said, "Derek, trust me he will understand waiting though. He’s already half in love with you but he won’t push you. ”

Derek frowned, and enjoying the hug he murmured, “Why do you say that?”

Peter moved Derek so he could look him in the eye and he asked, “Why he won't push you?” He saw Derek nod so he continued quietly, “He knows what Kate did. I overheard him telling Noah to back off when Noah was going to confront you both about your recent closeness. He really laid into Noah telling him that after everything you went through with Kate and then Scott robbing you of your body autonomy he wouldn’t add to it and that if anything does happen it would be at your pace and not until you are ready. Stiles truly is a force of nature but he also has an innate instinct on when to push and when to wait.”

Derek smiled, he was gutted that Kate was still affecting him even now but glad that he had such an understanding mate. He explained, “I want to wait, I need time to get used to having a mate who actually wants me, but it also gives Noah time to accept it.” Derek looked at Peter to gauge his reaction and he asked, “Do you think Stiles knows about mates? That he’s mine?”

Peter smirked and pulled Derek in for another hug, he smugly replied, “Undoubtedly, he is ridiculously smart and he is able to connect the dots in a way even I have never seen before.”

By the time they went back to school in September for their junior year they were no closer to finding Boyd and Erica, Chris refused to help Allison with her court case, effectively wiping his hands off her, she was given access to a public defender and at the trial, she was found guilty on all charges. Due to her complete lack of remorse, the judge sentenced her to 18 years. Chris requested that the prison be away from her victims in Beacon Hills. To make up for his daughter's actions against the members of the Hale Pack Chris requested to become a human/hunter member of the Hale pack to help keep an eye on the territory. Stiles thought maybe there was something else keeping him around but he didn’t have enough evidence on that… yet…


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter 3**   
**October 2011**

One of the decisions that Stiles had made over the break was that he no longer enjoyed playing Lacrosse. He was still having occasional flashbacks to being grabbed off the field after the game. He talked to Coach and he ended up moving back to the track team specializing in the long-distance events. It turned out running for your life can help with stamina. He also spent time after school with Chris and Derek learning hand to hand and how to fight with knives against claws.

It was approaching Halloween and the betas with Lydia and Stiles were approaching the Hale house to get started on their training. Derek, Peter, Noah, and Chris were about five minutes behind them as their meeting at City Hall had run late. They were working on getting permits for the Hale house rebuild sorted.

Lydia stopped when the house came into view and the others looked at her but Stiles kept going. He could just make out the symbol on the door and the pile of blond curls below it.

He took a few steps closer and he could see Erica’s bloody and broken form lying in front of the door to the house. He looked at Jackson and he murmured, “Heartbeat?” 

Jackson, his face lacking all of the arrogance he usually carried as easily as breathing just shook his head. 

Stiles took a few steps closer before he collapsed to his knees. He could hear the betas behind him with Lydia’s quiet sobs. He then felt arms close around him as Derek arrived. He could hear his dad on the radio calling a team in to investigate. Stiles just tuned it out and he hid in Derek’s arms, taking comfort in their warmth and giving comfort in return. He could hear Peter and Chris standing right behind them discussing the pack symbol that was painted on the door. 

Peter crouched down and he looked seriously at Derek, he explained quietly so the deputies couldn’t hear, “Its the Alpha Pack symbol. It’s a pack made up of alphas who have all slaughtered their entire packs. They claim to be testing new packs when they invade the territories but really they just annihilate the packs under the premise of inviting the alpha of the territory to join their pack, when they are refused they just kill everyone before they move on to the next territory.”

Chris sighed, “Their leader is Deucalion, he used to be a peaceful alpha, he wanted more communication with humans. He thought there could be peace between hunters and stable packs, he was trying to work on a treaty that would be between all hunting families and all packs. Gerard invited him and other prominent alphas to a peace meeting claiming to want this treaty, Talia didn’t trust him and she refused to attend. She was right not to trust Gerard, first, he killed all the hunters that were with him with a special bat he created that was covered with werewolf teeth and claws, then he blinded Deucalion with wolfsbane tipped arrows leaving him at the mercy of his own betas. One of the betas tried to kill him not wanting a weak blind alpha and Deucalion ripped his head off before finishing the slaughter of his pack.”

Derek looked up at the body of Erica on the stoop of his old house. He asked, “So what, she’s a message? Their way of saying they are in town?”

Peter nodded, “They will push you to try and get you to kill your betas. They will be shit out of luck though. They usually hit smaller packs that are made up of misfit toys that don’t know how to work together. It may not seem like it but our pack is strong and we have the advantage of being able to count both a hunter and the sheriff as pack members.”

Chris added, “You may want to warn Satomi and maybe push her into talking to Scott again. They will try to go through him to get to you as he is an unattached omega with ties to the Hale alpha spark.”

Derek looked up at Peter, “Can you get on that? You know more about the alpha pack. I want to stay close in case the investigation finds something that will lead us to Boyd.”

Peter nodded and with a quick squeeze of Stiles' shoulder he left, texting Satomi as he walked. Derek looked at Chris and he asked, “Can you go with him, I don’t want anyone in the pack alone while the Alpha Pack are in town.” 

Chris smirked when he saw the vague look of horror on Peter’s face so as he turned to follow Peter, he called out in a taunting sing-song voice, “But Peter, your alpha doesn’t want you alone.”

Stiles whispered, “You are courting disaster there my alpha.”

Derek bent his head and he whispered right into Stiles' ear, “But can you just imagine it.”

Stiles nodded and he murmured with a quiet chuckle, “So hot.” 

Noah approached and he crouched down to where Stiles was still encased in Derek’s arms. “Hey, Kiddo. I am going to get the deputies to come over and interview you all.” He glanced around to make sure no deputies were within earshot before he continued quietly, ”I’m sorry Stiles, it looks like she has been dead for a few days before she was dumped on the doorstep, her injuries match yours so it will be easy for us to pin this on Gerard since he is also still missing. She has a weird substance under her nails so we are hoping we can use that to pinpoint where she may have been held.”

Stiles nodded, he turned to Derek, “Der, let me up. I want to get this over and done with so they can do the autopsy.”

The deputies interviewed all the teens and they made sure to get information on where they were during the day. They were sure her body had been in place for a few hours before the group got to the house but had to cover all the bases. Noah had explained that the group was all meeting there to discuss the demolition of the house and possible uses for the land once the house was leveled safely.

-x-

The autopsy results showed Erica had been injured more than even werewolf healing could keep up with but the most interesting result for the pack was the substance under her nails was identified as a stone called hecatolite. Noah explained it was rarely used in buildings and that he had requested a list of buildings from City Hall where hecatolite was used in the construction.

Noah looked to Derek, “Tara and myself will be inspecting one of the three buildings identified, we would like the pack along for backup. We have eliminated the other two as possibles because one is the luxury apartment building in the center of town and it was only used in the penthouse apartment and the other is in a factory which is in the middle of a production cycle. If the kids were being held there someone would have heard something before now. We have organized two other teams of deputies to search those buildings just in case.”

Derek asked, “So where are we going and do we have the building plans?”

Noah pulled out a pile of papers and Tara produced a cylinder full of building plans. Noah called out, “Stiles, get in here. We need your help with the planning.”

Stiles skidded in with the rest of the pack close behind and they all gathered around the large central table in the main room of the loft.

Noah gestured to the blueprints on the table, “So we narrowed it down to the old First National Bank.”

Stiles interrupted, “The one that got robbed last year?”

Noah nodded, “The vault is made of hecatolite. It’s also sealed.”

Peter’s heart sunk and he groaned, he explained, “Hecatolite is also known as moonstone and is one of the few substances on earth that can completely block the effects of the moon. If Boyd has been in the vault the entire time he has been missing it means when he is released he will be worse than a new wolf and he will likely go feral as soon as the moon hits him.”

Stiles just started to bash his head on the table until Derek grabbed him by the back of the neck to stop him. Stiles muttered, “When are we going to catch a break.” 

He looked around at the group, he asked, “Chris, do you have something strong enough to tranq a wolf Boyd’s size? He’s built like a freaking tank.”

Chris nodded, “I have a few on hand,” He looked to Noah and he asked, “Do we want enough to cover the alpha pack?”

Noah shrugged, he turned to Derek and Peter and he asked, “Can we hold them? Do we want to?”

Peter shook his head vehemently. “A standard cell won’t hold them, from what I have discovered their alpha sparks will be so corrupted even a cell made entirely of mountain ash won’t hold them. It may be enough to put them down while we do the rescue and get gone.”

Stiles started pacing as he thought through several plans. He hesitantly asked, “The bank had a robbery, that’s why it closed, right? So how did they get in and out?”

Noah indicated the vault on the map then he explained, “They lowered a guy in though this ventilation shaft on the roof and he drilled a hole in the rear of the vault. It took him 12 hours to drill through the wall then they siphoned the cash up to the guys back on the roof through the very narrow ventilation shaft in the wall. The wall was fixed before they decided to cut their losses and close the bank. It’s now sitting empty and abandoned.”

Isaac looked nervous as he asked, “Will we fit in there?”

Noah nodded, “Yes, but very, very barely.”

Stiles stopped pacing and he looked at Derek, “We will need a drill of some kind, I’m thinking maybe a diamond bit…”

Derek smirked and he commented, “Forget the drill.”

Stiles frowned and he asked, “Sorry?”

Derek asked, “If I go in first, how much space do I have?”

Stiles scoffed and he asked, “What do you think you’re going to do, Derek? You gonna punch through the wall?”

Derek gave him a flat look as he confirmed, “Yes Stiles, I’m gonna punch through the wall.” 

Stiles chuckled as he held up his hand a few inches away from Derek, he said, “Let's see that fist. Big, old fist. Make it, come on. Get it out there. Don't be scared. Big, bad wolf. Yeah, look at that. Okay, see this? That's maybe 3 inches of room to gather enough force to punch through solid co…”

Derek threw his fist forward with enough power to nearly knock Stiles over. Stiles stood after flailing around clutching his hand and he just said, “He can do it.”

Derek commented, “I can take Stiles down the shaft on my back, I would like Jackson to bring Chris down. Peter, I want you watching Noah and Tara from the building across the road as their backup.” He turned to Chris and he asked, “Do you have two tranq guns? I want you and Stiles armed with tranq guns as well as your usual guns with wolfsbane rounds?”

Chris nodded, “I still have all of Allison's weaponry. I can bring it by and add it to the pack armory.”

Derek nodded, he squeezed Chris’ shoulder in support, he looked down at the blueprints then up at Noah, he pointed at the main bank doors, “I would like you and Tara to approach here, Peter can monitor from above the bakery across the road.” He looked at Stiles and he asked, “So… How do we get them out of the bank?”

Stiles thought about it, “We need to watch them, we worked out that at least two of them are at the school.” He looked at Lydia, “The twins right?”

Lydia nodded, “Ethan is dating Danny so we,” She indicated herself and Jackson, ”are keeping a close eye on them. Aiden keeps coming on to me whenever Jackson isn’t around. But his lines are so bad it’s like he’s been homeschooled his whole life. The last time I turned him down he accidentally flashed his eyes. Whatever, Isaac can help me keep them busy during the rescue.” She pondered almost to herself, “I wonder how hard it is to strip down a motorbike.”

Stiles nodded, “So how about tomorrow we use the city cameras to monitor the bank, when we see them leave we head in.”

They all nodded in agreement. Peter started to leave, “I am going to head to the Hale vault to pick up some of the mountain ash restraints and chains so we have something to restrain him while he gets used to the moon and gains back his control.”

Derek looked to Chris and nodded, so Chris turned and followed Peter out of the loft. He called out as they were leaving, “Get extras in case we have to restrain one of the alphas.”

Peter gave a quick thumbs up and they were gone.

Stiles pulled out a spare laptop and with help from Tara he had the town cameras around the bank setup for monitoring and he settled in for the first watch.

-x-

Jackson was on watch when he saw the twins leave for school on their bikes. He messaged Lydia to give her a heads up that her plan was a go. An hour later he and Stiles were watching the cameras when they saw two more leave the bank. Stiles sent Peter out to scout out how many heartbeats he could hear in the bank.

While Peter was away Chris and Stiles started to prep their weapons making sure they had their extra clips in the TAC vests they were wearing. All the humans and Peter did a soundcheck to make sure their earbuds were working. Derek and Jackson could hear fine through the earbuds Stiles and Chris were wearing. Peter returned 20 minutes later and he reported just 3 heartbeats, two were muffled. 

“That’s probably the best we will get.” Stiles commented, he looked at Noah and Derek and he asked, “Now?”

They nodded and everyone headed out. Once Peter was settled on the rooftop and word came through from Stiles that they were in place and ready to drop down the shaft Tara knocked on the entry doors to the bank with a search warrant in her hand. Noah was standing right behind her with his service weapon ready in his hand hidden behind Tara's back.

A hulking beast of a man slammed the door open and yelled, “What!” As he loomed over her.

She smiled as she handed over the warrant. “We have a warrant to search the building, if you and anyone with you could please step outside and answer some questions while my colleague has a quick look through.”

Peter let the others know that Ennis had come to the door so the team of four dropped down into the shaft with Derek and Jackson smashing their way into the vault. Peter slowly made his way down to the ground level to be ready to back up Noah and Tara if needed.

When the wolves broke through the vault wall they stepped through and saw Boyd standing on the opposite side of the vault with his claws out talking to someone hiding behind the pillar.

Stiles and Chris walked out from behind the wolves with the dart guns ready, Stiles asked calmly, “Boyd, who are you talking to?”

Derek nearly collapsed when his younger sister Cora walked out from behind the pillar. She snarled, “You all need to get out of here.”

Chris asked, “Is it just you two locked up in here?”

Boyd nodded, “Yeah, they took Erica out a week ago and we haven’t seen her since.”

Stiles looked down and he mumbled, “They killed her, she was left at the old Hale house as a message.”

Cora snarled, “They dared!”

Stiles radioed his dad, “Dad, are we clear?”

Peter whispered, “No, Ennis is arguing at the door, he won’t leave the bank.”

“Shit,” Stiles exclaimed, “He’s going to hear the vault door opening.”

Boyd commented, “We can’t open it.” He pointed at the mountain ash line on the inside of the vault.

Stiles smirked, and he reminded Boyd, “Squishy human here. Remember?” He waved to the line, “When it’s time I will break it.”

He started in shock when the line near the door broke without him being near it. He shook his head and he explained, “Right, we have tranqs strong enough to affect a werewolf to get you out of here safely since you will both likely be feral as soon as you see the moon, then we will get you chained up at the loft while you get your wolves under control.”

They both nodded and sagged in relief so Chris and Stiles shot them both in the chest with the tranq guns and Derek and Jackson caught them as they collapsed.

“Right,” Stiles said, “Let's open the doors and blow this joint. Chris, can you carry Cora? Jackson, you take Boyd.”

Chris asked, “You can shoot with both hands?”

Stiles nodded so Chris swapped out Stiles tranq gun for his desert eagle. Stiles checked with Peter that Ennis was still at the front doors.

Peter confirmed, “He’s arguing with the Sheriff that he should be able to call to have his lawyer present during the search.”

Stiles palmed both of the guns and he nodded decisively, “Open the door. Let's go.”

He and Derek led the group out of the bank following the route they had planned from the blueprints, they got about halfway to the doors when they heard Peter yell down the earbuds, “He’s coming.” 

Stiles lifted the guns and waited while Derek wolfed out. Ennis came sprinting into the hallway they were in and loomed at the end blocking the exit. Stiles lifted the guns and started shooting, he landed shots in his torso and legs and watched when Ennis dropped like a rock. Derek ran forward claws out and while Ennis was able to put up a fight his body was not coping with the amount of wolfsbane running through his system. After a short but utterly vicious fight, Derek was able to rip out Ennis’ throat going so far down that he nearly took his head clean off. Peter came running in with Noah and Tara at his back covering him.

Peter picked a barely conscious Derek up off the floor and he said, “We have to go, Ennis was able to get a text out before Noah could stop him. Deucalion and Kali are likely on their way back here, they will be pissed and we are not strong enough to fight without Derek.”

They all moved at a run for the exit, with Stiles, Noah, and Tara running for the various vehicles and getting them started.

They made it back to the loft without incident and Jackson and Chris moved to secure Boyd and Cora in chains surrounded by a mountain ash circle each. They made sure the pair were in front of the large wall of windows so they both had the moon shining directly on them. 

Peter gently placed Derek on the bed he had set up in the corner of the loft and Stiles moved forward with the first aid kit to dress the various deep gashes Derek had all over his torso.

Peter commented, “He’s going to take a few days to recover from that. At least. Alpha wounds always take longer to heal and those claw marks are particularly brutal. To be honest he will probably sleep through most of it.”


	4. Chapter Four

**November 2011**

“Derek’s vanished,” Peter said when Stiles answered his phone.

Stiles frowned and he demanded, “What do you mean vanished? The loft was full of people, how can he vanish?”

Peter shook his head, “Can you and Noah come over here and check it out? Cora and Boyd will be here in about half an hour. They have been out running errands.”

Stiles frowned and he asked, “What errands are so important that they left you on watch duty by yourself?

Peter sighed, “I said it was fine, they had to go to the sheriff’s station to sign their statements so Tara could close their missing persons cases and then Boyd was taking Cora to the school to complete her registration now that we have her documents from Argentina.”

Stiles relayed the information and Noah nodded his agreement. “We are on our way,” Stiles confirmed before he hung up.

Noah asked, “Weren’t Peter and Chris on Derek watch?”

Stiles nodded, “Just Peter, Chris had Argent Arm’s business that couldn’t wait and Boyd and Cora were out getting their lives back so Peter was on his own for watch duty today.”

They pulled up at the loft and found a bereft Peter sitting on the steps just inside the loft doors. Stiles crouched down beside him and he asked, “What happened?”

Peter looked up at him and he said sorrowfully, “I don't know, I just went down to the lobby to meet the delivery driver for the Thai I had ordered and when I got back up here he was gone. There is no scent trail for either Derek or his kidnappers. There aren’t even signs of a struggle. I was only downstairs for a few minutes.”

Noah stood tall and he looked around and he agreed, it looked like Derek had just walked out to get something to eat. He could see Derek’s phone and keys still on the coffee table.

Boyd and Cora came sprinting in and Cora joined Stiles in front of Peter. She snarled, “What happened?”

Stiles squeezed Peter’s shoulder and he explained to Cora that it looked like Derek had been taken with no sign of a struggle.

Stiles looked at Boyd who just seemed to be folding into himself and shutting down. “Hey!” He called out to Boyd, “We will get him back, we got you both back. We know where two of the alpha pack are most days, we can catch them and threaten them to get information.”

Stiles stood and he asked Noah, “Can you contact everyone including Tara and Doc Deaton, and get them here for an urgent pack meeting?”

Noah nodded and he moved away from the group to make his calls. 

“Cora?” She looked up, Stiles asked, “Can you stay with Peter, make sure he doesn’t run off to confront the alphas?”

She nodded and she and Boyd led Peter to the sofa so they could grab him if he tried to run.

Stiles then sat cross-legged in the middle of the large table and he started to write down various plans for capturing an alpha… or two. 

Cora used the time on the sofa to distract Peter by catching up on what she’s missed since the fire. She made it clear she had no love left for the sister who forcibly cut their pack bond two days after the fire when she cut and ran from Beacon Hills without even checking the designated safe zones. 

Peter snarled at this news. He said, “I know she took Derek and ran but he’s never talked about that time. At all. He only returned after I killed her which would have cut their pack bond.”

Cora asked, “Can you tell me, well, did you know it was her when you attacked?”

Peter shook his head, “No, not really. I really wasn’t in my right mind, 6 years in a coma will do that. Thankfully dying and coming back seemed to have fixed what the fire burnt out.”

She pulled him into a hug and whispered, “Good, I missed my favorite uncle.”

Peter frowned and he pulled back, he said, “I’ve always been your only uncle.”

Cora smirked, showing she was a true Hale, “I know.”

-x-

They spent the pack meeting debating various plans and it was decided that their best bet was to capture the twins as they were still attending the high school. They were staying out of the way of the pack for the most part. 

When Stiles was laying out a possible plan for the pack Cora asked, “Why don’t we just ask them?”

Stiles flailed and he looked at her like she had lost her mind. Boyd cleared his throat before he said simply, “I agree.”

Stiles frowned at both of them and he asked, “What?”

Cora explained, “Look, I’m not saying I trust them, but, the whole time we were being held, Deucalion, Kali, and Ennis would be brutal to us, often taking us out for fights while the twins were at school just because they were bored, the twins though, they snuck us food on the regular and they made sure we were healing.”

“So…” Stiles pondered, “What if the three of us approached them during a study hall. Meet them in an empty classroom. Maybe Jackson, Isaac, and Lydia can listen from a different classroom.” He looked at Alan Deaton and he asked, “Is there a way we can ward a room temporarily so no sound escapes?”

Alan nodded, “You should be able to set up a runic ward that will last about an hour. I can take you through it after the meeting if Peter has a book on runes here.” 

When Stiles looked at Peter he was already moving to his library to get the rune books he had on hand. 

Stiles asked, “Does anyone have study hall with them?”

Lydia spoke up, “I do, with both of them, I think they share all but one of their classes. Tomorrow its the period before lunch which could be good timing. Our study hall teacher is Finstock, he won’t even notice we are missing.”

“Ok…” Stiles pondered, “So, I have study hall 2nd period so I will ummm,” He glanced at Noah before he continued, “scope out what classrooms will be empty 4th period and I will text you the details. Cora are you ok to approach them and ask them to talk?”

Cora nodded, she asked, “Text me the details and I will sort it. Do you have enough mountain ash to surround both of them separately?”

Stiles nodded, “I keep a good supply on me at all times after that last confrontation at home.” Stiles shuddered in remembrance. Stiles frowned when he thought about Cora’s oddly specific wording and he looked at her and he asked, “Why separately?”

Cora grimaced and she explained, “They have a unique twin alpha form. They combine in their alpha form to around 8ft tall and built like Boyd. Not saying they are likely to do it but if the discussion goes south and mountain ash is an option you need to make sure they are in separate circles to be on the safe side.”

Stiles nodded to show he understood, he turned to Alan and he asked, “Can you take us through those runic wards now?”

Alan shook his head with a small smile, “No Stiles, the only person who would benefit would be you. You need innate magic to use runic wards, druid, mage, sorcerer, spark…”

Stiles narrowed his eyes as he thought back to a previous conversation, “You said I needed to have a spark.”

Alan nodded, “I did, and I was right. Only a spark could have circled that warehouse with the amount of mountain ash you had and have it hold as strongly as it did.”

Stiles muttered, “I need an English to emissary translation dictionary…”

Peter snorted before he said, “Why don’t you guys take these,” he handed Stiles a small pile of books, “and head into the office to go over what you need to do to ward the room the betas will be observing from. Maybe look into how to ward the pack houses.”

Cora asked, “What are your plans for tomorrow Uncle Peter?”

He shrugged, “Going to hang out and chase up some of my contacts see if there is anything more we can find out about the alpha pack.”

Noah suggested, “Why don’t you and Chris both do that from the station conference room. That way none of us are alone.”

Peter nodded and Chris shrugged and said, “Sure, I was thinking of staying here until the alpha pack are gone anyway. They will know now that I am part of the pack and I am the only one living alone.”

Peter took Chris to get set up in one of the remaining spare rooms in the loft and everyone else started to head home. 

-x-

Stiles worked through his Study hall to find two classrooms that would be empty during 4th period and he sent off the text message to various members of the pack. Cora confirmed she was good to get them to her designated classroom to meet him and Boyd once she got the signal.

The classrooms he chose were close to his Economics class so he was able to get there and start the warding to hide Isaac, Lydia, and Jackson so they could listen in. He did the runes in chalk on the blackboard at the front of the class. When the three pack members joined him he passed the eraser to Lydia and he explained, “The runes should fade as they dissipate, Deaton wasn’t able to give me a timeframe he just gave me some cryptic answer about it depending on my magic or whatever, when they are gone you will no longer be hidden. Hopefully, they last long enough. If they aren’t after the meeting you will need to remove them before you leave.”

Lydia just nodded, she asked, “We can talk at normal volume with this rune?”

Stiles nodded, “No sound or scent will escape. Right heading next door, see you guys at lunch.”

He sent a quick text off to Cora and then he walked out into the hall to meet Boyd.

Boyd rumbled, “Runes work.” Before he stalked to the neighboring classroom to wait for Cora and the twins.

Stiles did a small fist pump behind Boyd before he joined him at the back of the classroom.

Five minutes later Cora escorted the twins into the classroom.

They looked around, Aiden snarled, “We thought this was going to be a private chat.”

Stiles stood and Boyd took a step back from the cold look on his face. Stiles snarled, “You helped keep three of our pack members captive for over 4 months, why the hell would I leave you alone with them. If it were up to me I would be using an extra-large branch of mountain ash, wrapping it in wolfsbane and soaking it in mistletoe and I would be shoving it…”

Cora moved to stand in-between them and she yelled, “Enough.” She looked at Stiles, “We need their help. Just let me speak to them, ok.”

Stiles took a step back and nodded, with a go ahead gesture.

Cora looked at Ethan and she asked, “What has your alpha done with Derek?”

Stiles' heart sank when he saw both Ethan and Aiden look confused. He watched Boyd when Cora asked, “Derek is missing, are you saying your pack had nothing to do with it?”

Ethan said, “No, and we would know, they always force us to use our alpha form when they approach the alpha they are trying to recruit as a show of might.”

Boyd shook his head at Stiles to indicate he wasn't lying.

Stiles asked, “Force?”

Aiden snorted, “You think we want to be in that pack of half rabid wolves. If we leave, they hunt us down and kill us.”

Stiles frowned and he asked, “Isn’t the alpha pack all about having alphas who are willing to kill their packs?”

Ethan shook his head, “Not us. Deucalion found out about our merging ability and he decided he wanted it in his pack, he slaughtered our pack and captured the alpha. He then got a hunter to kill the alpha so that we would inherit the alpha spark.”

Stiles asked quietly, “Do you even want to be alphas?”

Ethan and Aiden both shook their heads. 

Boyd interrupted, “So now what? How do we find Derek.”

Aiden offered, “We can quietly contact some people we know, get the word out. We want to help. You are stronger than the packs he normally attacks.”

Cora asked confusedly, “Why would you want to help us?”

Ethan commented, “We feel like there is a chance we could be free here.”

Stiles nodded, he would be guarded but his instincts were telling him to give the twins the benefit of the doubt. He said, “If you hear anything please, please let us know.”

The twins nodded before they left the classroom.

-x-

By the time Derek had been missing for over a week the entire pack had moved into the loft, they were spending all their free time following up on leads and chasing up Peter and Chris’ contacts in the supernatural world trying to track down Derek.

Jackson and Lydia convinced Stiles to bring Danny in on the secret as he had his own contacts who can keep an eye out for signs of Derek. They wouldn’t explain further but after Stiles talked to Peter and his Dad he agreed to bring Danny into the pack. Danny was able to use his hacking abilities to follow up on some of Chris's and Peter’s leads, looking into financial transactions and hooking into cameras around the areas of the reports to search for signs of Derek.

Cora approached Stiles hesitantly one night while they were alone in the loft. She said quietly, “We need an alpha. At least a temporary one, our wolves are starting to feel the strain from the lack of our alpha.”

Stiles agreed, “I know, but we have few options.”

Cora suggested, “What about Uncle Peter? He was trained to be an alpha by my grandparents. They didn’t believe in training just one beta to take over.”

Stiles swallowed nervously, he said quietly, “He was an alpha before, he is the one who bit Scott.”

Cora sat up, she argued, “He was feral at the time though, wasn’t he?”

Stiles nodded, “He was,” He agreed, “But he was freaking terrifying. I understand his kills but… What if it happens again?”

Cora asked, “Why don't we talk to him, ask him if it’s something he will consider. He should be back with Argent in about half an hour.”

Stiles nodded absently as he was thinking through the various ramifications of making Peter an alpha again.

He was still deep in thought when Peter and Chris arrived back in the loft. Peter crouched in front of him and shook him, when Stiles looked up Peter asked softly, “Cora said you wanted to talk?”

Stiles pats the seat beside him on the sofa and he asked, “If we find a way to make you an alpha again would it push you back into that feral state?”

Peter shook his head and he said, “You know I don’t want to be the alpha.” 

Stiles nodded in agreement, “I know, but honestly, we need an alpha while Derek is missing. You are the only wolf in the pack who has had any training in how to be an alpha. My only concern is what it will do to you mentally.”

Peter put his arm around Stiles’ shoulder and pulled him in for a half hug. He said, “Don’t worry about me, sweetheart. Whatever instability I had, dying and being resurrected has somehow fixed it.” He looked at Chris before he added, “Look, I am ok if you all want me to be the alpha until we find Derek. But, once Derek is back and fighting fit he takes over. I much prefer to do my job for the pack in the shadows as the left hand. Does that sound ok?”

Stiles nodded, he confirmed, “I can get behind that. Gods, I hope he’s ok.”

Chris moved to the sofa and he sat on the other side of Stiles bracketing him, he said, “I am sure he will be fine, we just have to find him.” 


	5. Chapter Five

**November 2011**

The next day at school Stiles and Cora were talking quietly in the cafeteria when Ethan sat down beside Cora. He avoided the glares he got from everyone else and he leaned into Cora and he whispered, “You need to be on the lookout. Kali is pissed your alpha killed her mate, Ennis, and she’s on the warpath, and since she can’t find Derek anywhere she’s looking at attacking pack betas instead.”

Cora nodded and she murmured a quiet, “Thanks,” as Ethan stood and left the cafeteria. 

Stiles looked at Cora and he said, “We can use this. Get her to attack and we ambush her. Then Peter can kill her for her alpha spark.”

Scott slammed his hands down on the table making them all jump in fright. They hadn’t noticed his approach. Scott hissed, “You’re going to make that psycho an alpha?”

Stiles rolled his eyes and he stood to leave, he turned back to Scott and he said coldly, “It’s none of your business.”

The pack all stood and followed him out to the car park. They figured Scott would follow them out to yell some more.

As Scott reached the car park screamed, “Don’t you walk away from me!”

When Stiles got to the Jeep he threw his bag in and he spun and demanded, “Why not, you did, over and over again.”

Scott roared, “You can’t make him an alpha, he's a fucking psycho, he will kill you all.”

Stiles looked at him impassively and he said, “Why do you care Scott. You’re not pack.”

Scott roared, “Neither are you!”

Cora gave Scott a raised judgey eyebrow in true Hale fashion. Erica and Boyd had told her a lot about Scott and his refusal to join a pack while they were all locked in the bank. 

Isaac cleared his throat, “Umm, he’s unquestionably pack. He’s honestly the heart of our pack.”

Boyd said, “But you’re right, you’re not pack, you never will be.”

Jackson added, “We don’t like those who willingly work with hunters to kill wolves.”

Lydia flicked her hand at him in a begone motion. She snarked, “Just leave Scott. You have absolutely no say in the decisions we make as a pack.”

Danny turned his back on Scott and jumped into the back of the Porsche, he yelled, “Come on guys, ignore the idiot, let's go!”

Cora jumped in the jeep with Boyd and Stiles while the others piled in the Porsche and they headed to the loft to talk to Peter. They figured this was more important than their afternoon classes.

-x-

They all piled into the loft and they sat around on the various sofas while Stiles went to get Peter and Chris from their offices upstairs.

When the three came downstairs Lydia was pacing behind the sofa the other betas were occupying. Peter and Chris sat on the unoccupied sofa on the other side of the coffee table, Peter snarled at Chris and when stiles moved to join the betas Peter pulled him to sit between him and Chris. Stiles looked between them and snickered. Stiles nudged Chris with his elbow with a wink and Chris just gave him a wolfish grin.

Lydia cleared her throat. She said hesitantly, “From listening to Cora and Stiles at lunchtime we understand there is a plan to make Peter an alpha albeit temporarily while we search for Derek. As you must understand there are some of us who have… concerns… about Peter being an alpha again.”

Stiles went to jump to Peter’s defense but Peter put a hand on his arm to hold him back. He said calmly, “I can understand that. I was not a great alpha last time.” He chuckled, “I was mostly feral and fixated on getting revenge. All I wanted was to kill those who destroyed my pack after being buried in my own head for six years hearing the screams of my pack burning to death.”

Lydia gulped and she resumed her pacing, she was thinking through what she felt as a banshee.

Peter was about to interrupt her pacing but Stiles put a hand on his arm to stop him. Stiles spoke up, “Lydia?”

Lydia stopped and she looked at Stiles, she had a glassy look in her eyes that showed she was still processing what she was feeling. Stiles asked, “Lydia, think back to when Peter bit you and when you resurrected him. Did he feel different?”

Lydia nodded hesitantly. She said, “When he bit me it felt more feral, more frantic. But the Peter I spoke with while he was dead and the one I resurrected feels calmer, more rational.”

Peter said sadly, “I don’t know if it was being burned the second time,” Stiles leaned in to give comfort, “or if it was dying while still connected to the living world. But the insanity that built while in the coma was healed somehow.” He looked at Lydia and he tilted his head in thought as he pondered, “It could also be disconnecting from the banshee that linked herself to me while I was in the coma that might have helped.”

Stiles sat forward in his seat and he demanded, “What?”

Peter shrugged, he said, “I only have vague memories of my time in the hospital but I do remember being connected to a banshee while in the hospital. She felt… unhinged.”

Lydia asked, “So if you become the alpha and then Derek returns you will hand over the leadership of the pack to him?”

Peter smirked, “In a heartbeat. I don’t want to lead, I much prefer being able to protect the pack from the background like any good left hand.”

Stiles asked, “That’s what you did for Talia right?”

Peter nodded. He explained, “She hated the necessity but you can’t have a strong pack without an effective left hand.”

Isaac asked, “And if we don’t find Derek?”

He held his hand up when everyone started to protest, he said, “Look, we all want Derek back but we need contingencies. We need to plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

Peter spoke up over the voices, “He’s right.” He waited for the voices to all quiet before he continued, “If the worst happens and Derek doesn’t come home then I will train one of you with the lessons I received from my parents and I will pass on the alpha spark when that person is ready.”

Isaac nodded and he chuckled as he said, “Bags not me.”

Peter and Chris both turned to sit sideways on the sofa facing Stiles while the others were talking about school and homework. Peter asked quietly, “That’s not all this is about is it?”

Stiles shook his head, he said, “We had a visit from the twins. They warned that Kali is on the warpath. She is pissed that Derek killed her mate, Ennis.”

Peter facepalmed, he asked incredulously, “Wow, that’s a match made in hell, the psychopaths in matrimony.” Peter glanced at Chris before he stated, “So they definitely don’t have Derek. The twins wouldn’t have risked warning you if Kali had him.”

Stiles shook his head, he said, “That's not all. Scott overheard us talking about using Kali to make you an alpha. He went off in the car park like he’s entitled to an opinion.”

Chris asked, “That's why you all skipped out of school?”

Stiles nodded, but before he could try and make an excuse Danny spoke up, “I knew Scott wouldn’t leave it alone and would do something stupid to out the wolves so I made the call that we were leaving for the afternoon and pushed everyone to leave.”

Chris asked, “Do we need to call the school and get you all excused.”

Stiles snorted and Danny blushed before he shook his head, he said quietly, “I already logged exceptions in the school system for all of us.” Stiles coughed so Danny fessed up, “I might have also added a few detentions for Scott.”

Peter sighed, he asked, “Can you undo them, please? The last thing we need to do is aggravate him when he's already almost feral.”

Stiles suggested, “He trusts Deaton. Maybe we can let Deaton know about the behaviors he's exhibiting so he can keep an eye out for them.”

Peter stood and picked up his phone from the coffee table, he suggested, “Let me call him. This is getting pretty serious.”

He went to the soundproofed office that Derek used and made the call. He came back downstairs five minutes later and he looked pensive. He explained, “Alan hasn’t seen him for nearly four months. He was going to bring it up with Derek but he went missing before Alan could.”

Stiles asked, “Is it worth talking to Mrs. McCall?”

Peter and Chris both shook their heads. Chris said, “I saw her when I stopped into the hospital to visit you. She was clear that she thought you lied about what happened to you, she believed Scott when he said Gerard wouldn’t attack a human.”

Jackson frowned and said, “Like hell she does! One of the clearer memories I have of while I was the kanima is of Gerard using me to threaten Mrs. McCall, her death if Scott didn’t help him. What does she think that was?” 

Stiles shrugged and he explained, “Scott has always been her blind spot. She believes him no matter what he says. I think that’s partly why Mr. McCall left. There were rumors that she kicked him out because he was hitting Scott. But if that was the case Scotty would have told me, or anyone else because he was a little blabbermouth tattletale back then.”

Peter asked, “Is it worth involving him?”

Stiles sighed, “It’s a risk, he’s an FBI agent. Talk to my dad, they were friends and I think they still talk.”

Peter nodded, he asked, “Is that everything?”

When the teens all nodded he pointed to the large dining table and he said, “Homework! Get to it.” He looked pointedly at Stiles, Lydia, and Danny before they could argue, “If you are already head of your classes then help the others.”

-x-

They decided that they would lure Kali to the loft with help from the twins. Stiles was able to put up some basic alarm wards around the loft tied into himself, Peter and Chris so they would know when she was coming.

Stiles accompanied by Boyd and Jackson talked to the twins at school during the lunch hour in a warded classroom and between the five of them, they decided that the twins would report to Deucalion that they saw a Hale going into their apartment building while they were out on their bikes. Aiden wasn’t sure if she would drag them along to the fight but they were both sure Deucalion would leave her too it, he only seemed to care about getting the last Hale Alpha to join his pack.

Before they left Stiles implored, “Until we know she’s beaten, you need to fight like you normally do. She can’t know you are in on it if she escapes us. If you want to make it look real without doing damage to the pack fight Jackson and Boyd, they are our strongest teenage fighters and they will be able to hold you off.”

They both nodded before heading back to class. 

Before the three pack members separated Stiles stated, “Jackson, take them down with the venom as soon as you can. Maybe on the slim chance she escapes we can hide them.” 

Jackson nodded, he said, “We have some venom in a vial that Boyd could put on a knife, take them both out at the same time? It could work as a distraction to help the rest of you with Kali.”

Stiles nodded his agreement, he said, “I will text Chris and ask him to pick up a few knives for us to use with the venom.” He squeezed Jackson's neck and he said quietly, “Thanks, Jackson.”

The three split up and went to their respective classes.

-x-

A few nights later the pack minus Noah who had to work were spending their Friday night researching possible leads when the wards pinged. Stiles looked at Peter and he tilted his head before getting them all moving. 

Stiles moved everyone but Peter, Jackson, and Boyd into a warded room just off the living room. He had warded it like the classrooms so that no sound or scent would escape. Peter moved to sit nonchalantly on the sofa in the middle of the living room facing the picture windows reading a book and Boyd and Jackson were hidden in the shadows on either side of the picture windows.

Chris and Stiles stood just inside the warded room with their guns at the ready and the rest of the pack were waiting beside them.

They had expected Kali to come through the door but the next thing they knew the picture windows at the end of the room shattered and Kali came flying into the room like a drama queen with the twins right behind her.

She stalked up to Peter on the couch with all of her claws out. Peter looked disdainfully at her feet and he asked with a curled lip, “Is that even sanitary?”

Kali snarled, “Where is your whelp of an alpha?”

Peter smirked and he shrugged. He looked down and inspected his fingernails before he looked up through his lashes and he said, “He was taken, I know not where.”

Kali shifted to her beta shape and she roared, “Where is the coward?”

Peter, still smiling, put his feet up on the coffee table and he crossed them at the ankle.

Kali changed to her beta shape and went to leap at Peter but the pack with Chris and Stiles at the lead poured into the room lining up in a half-circle behind the sofa Peter was sitting on. Both Chris and Stiles had their guns ready to shoot at the slightest provocation.

Boyd and Jackson moved forward and used the kanima venom imbued knives on the twins catching them as they fell so Kali wouldn’t hear them drop. They then moved to join the pack behind Peter.

Stiles tilted his head at her as if contemplating her and he asked, “Why do you want our alpha?”

She shifted on her feet and she snarled, “He killed my mate. He has to pay for that.”

Chris asked, “Are you sure about that?”

Kali snarled, “I could smell him all over Ennis. I would know that Hale stink anywhere.” 

Peter raised an eyebrow and Cora standing right beside Stiles snarled.

Peter sighed and he said, “Well, as you can see he is not here, so you can leave now.”

Kali grinned, all her fangs showing and she said, “Well, he took my mate, maybe I should take his.” 

She started to stalk across the room to Stiles who rolled his eyes and shot her in the right kneecap dropping her to the floor. She looked back to the twins looking for help but she saw they looked unconscious laying on the floor directly in front of the picture windows. 

Stiles stepped forward so he was standing right behind Peter and he said, “That's quite enough of the dramatics.”

Stiles looked down at Peter and he asked, “I would ask if you want a fair fight but I already shot her. So… want me to shoot her a few more times?”

Peter dropped his head back on the sofa so he could see the pack behind him and he looked at Cora and Boyd and he asked, “Do you guys want a go first? Get some revenge before I take the kill shot.”

Cora flicked out her claws and Boyd moved silently to stand with her.

Kali saw them coming and tried to stand to meet them head-on until Stiles shot out her other kneecap. She snarled from the ground, “You can’t even face me like a wolf.”

Stiles shrugged, “Why should I, I’m human.” He looked down at his gun and smiled, “I quite like human weapons.”

Boyd knew that Cora had faced more than him in the vault so he calmly moved behind Kali while she and Stiles were snarking at each other and he picked her up by the arms off the floor and he was happy to just hold her still so Cora could get her hits in.

Peter kept an ear on Kali’s heartbeat listening for any sign it was starting to falter from Cora’s attack while he kept an eye on Stiles as he went to check on the twins. 

Stiles mouthed to the twins ‘you guys ok?’ He smiled when they both nodded. Before he could move Ethan mouthed, ‘we need to talk, we have a lead’. Stiles smiled and nodded before he headed back to watch Cora getting her swipes in. He looked at Kali who was starting to look like she had been through a meat grinder and he motioned to Cora to stop. 

Stiles stood in front of Kali and he asked, “What did you think you would achieve by coming here?”

Kali rolled her eyes and she refused to answer.

Stiles shrugged, he wasn’t really expecting her to answer. He turned his back on her and said to Peter, “Make it quick? She’s getting blood everywhere.”

Peter, picking up the hint for what it was, stood from his position on the couch and he moved forward and with no preamble, he ripped out Kali’s throat. Boyd dropped her to the floor and they all watched the red fade from Kali’s eyes. 

Before the alpha power had even settled Peter snapped out orders. He gestured at Kali’s body and he asked, “Chris, can you take Jackson and dispose of that in the preserve. Use wolfsbane with your usual disposal methods.” He looked at Cora and he asked, “Can you and Isaac clean up the blood and the glass. The cleaning products good for blood should be in the closet in my office upstairs. I will arrange to get the glass fixed tomorrow.” He watched Isaac sprint off to get the right products. He turned to Lydia and Danny, “You two keep researching, please.”

Peter with help from Boyd moved the twins to the sofa as the kanima venom started to wear off. Stiles sat in front of them on the coffee table, he asked, “What’s up?”

Aiden said, “We got a lead on your alpha. He was seen with a female driving south. He was apparently unconscious in all the traffic camera photos they could find.” 

Ethan turned to Danny and he asked, “Danny? Can you log into my email? I left the details and the photos there.”

Danny pulled his spare laptop closer and with prompting from Ethan he logged into the right email account. He found an email with traffic camera photos from various traffic cameras in Southern Arizona. He said hesitantly, “He was snapped by several traffic cameras, and it's definitely Derek. I don’t recognize the woman he is with though.”

He flipped the laptop around with the best photo on the screen so the rest of the pack could see. He wasn't expecting to see the rage on the faces of Stiles and Peter, or the confusion on Jackson’s face.

Jackson asked, “Didn’t you kill her Peter?”

Peter snarled, “I did, I ripped out her murderous throat.”

Stiles muttered to himself, “She’s turned,” Louder he said, “Peter, you didn’t kill her, you turned her, you were still an alpha when you slashed her and alpha claws deep enough can turn a person.”

Peter roared in displeasure, he asked, “Danny, can you use your magic and see if you can track where they were after these were taken?”

Danny nodded, typing furiously he said, “Already on it alpha.”

He, Lydia, and Stiles spent several hours, with help from the rest of the pack, combing through various traffic cameras and security camera footage and double-checking the output of Danny's recognition program, as they mapped Derek’s progress south. 


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**   
**November 2011**

Stiles was standing by a large map of North America mapping out the route Kate took as she traveled South.

He asked, “So we lost the trail in Janos?”

Danny shook his head, “No, I was able to track it a bit further heading to a small town called Ascensión just south of the border. The trail goes cold about halfway between Janos and Ascensión. There is no sign of either of them nor the vehicle in Ascensión and I searched over a week of camera footage using recognition software I wrote.”

Peter turned to Chris and he said, “Isn’t Mexico Calavera territory? Can you feel them out? See if they know anything?”

Chris shrugged, “I can try but Araya Calavera is wily and very secretive. She won’t give up any info unless it benefits her.”

Peter motioned for him to go make the call. He waited for Chris to leave then he tapped the map southeast from the last known location. He said, “There is something here. Some old legend I remember reading.” He looked at Stiles as if trying to jog his memory, he said slowly as if trying to remember, “Something about a jaguar god.”

Lydia clicked her fingers, she said, “It was in that book we scanned last week. I remember something about a church of bones. Red cover, there was an Aztec god on the cover in green.”

Stiles remembered putting the book away and he sprinted up to Peter’s office to find it.

Chris stepped out of his office just as Stiles stepped out of Peter’s office with the book. He held his hand out for the book. As they walked down the spiral stairs Chris was flipping through the book.

He put it down on the table and he pointed to an open page. He explained, “Araya Calavera said she hadn’t heard of any stray alphas in her territory but she said she would keep an eye out, she said her family are busy hunting La Loba, ‘The Bone Woman’” he tapped the page in the book before he explained further, “It would seem that Kate is trying to control the berserkers of Tezcatlipoca, the problem is that it requires a werejaguar with perfect control to complete the ritual.”

Stiles snorted, “That psycho wouldn’t know control if it walked up and bit her on the ass. So she must have taken Derek to force him to teach her control.”

Peter snorted, “After what she has put him through he’s more likely to try and send her to hell first.”

While they had been talking Lydia had taken the book and had started flipping through it looking for the information about the church she had seen.

Lydia placed the book on the table and she said, “La Iglesia otherwise known as The Church. It was once home to the Nagual, otherwise known as werejaguars, and is called the temple of the smoking mirror. But everyone has been looking for it around the south end of Mexico with all the other Aztec ruins.”

Stiles asked, “Does the book have any hints on how to find it?”

Lydia shook her head, she said, “It just says that when close any supernatural creature or being will feel the pull.”

Stiles asked, “So we need to go there and see if the wolves feel that pull.” He turned to Chris, “How likely is it that the Calaveras will let us in if we ask?”

Chris shook his head, “Very unlikely, I know they don’t work well with others but their home location is much further south so if you can sneak in and sneak out you should be fine.”

Stiles asked Peter, “Do you have Derek’s passport?”

Peter nodded as he confirmed, “It is up in my office. This trip, I can’t go with you, someone needs to stay to protect the territory from Deucalion.”

Chris moved beside Peter and he agreed, “I can’t go either, I can’t step foot in Mexico as that is recognized Calavera territory.”

Aiden spoke up, “We’ll both go. We want to help.”

Stiles stood as he ordered, “Right, everyone go and get some sleep, we will leave in the morning for Mexico. We can take Roscoe and…”

Chris chuckled and he said, “No, Roscoe isn’t going anywhere. I want you to actually reach your destination.” Chris ignored Stiles' indignant noises, “I have three SUVs you can use for the trip. Mine plus two that are in a storage locker across town. They are registered in names that are unrelated to the pack or the Argent family so they shouldn’t ping any alerts.”

Danny said, “I will keep an eye out for any alerts and I will cancel them before they go out.”

Peter asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to wait?”

Stiles shook his head, he explained, “The full moon is in just over a week, most rituals are done on the full moon so I would prefer to have him back before then.”

Peter nodded, “Ok. I will let your dad know in the morning.”

Stiles smirked, “Wait until we have left, trust me. While we are gone you and Chris protect my dad, you both stick to his ass like glue until we get home. Keep following leads from the station conference room just in case this one doesn’t pan out.”

Chris pulled Stiles into a hug and he said quietly, “We will keep him safe. Deucalion won’t get to him.”

Stiles nodded and he left to join the rest of the pack with the twins in a puppy pile in one of the bedrooms upstairs.

The next morning they were up early, Chris drove Boyd, and Stiles to pick up the two spare SUVs that Chris had in the storage locker across town, he walked Stiles through the hidden weapons lockers the Argent SUVs were all equipped with. He loaded the three vehicles up with spare weapons for the trip before they all drove back to the loft.

While they were away Peter took the time to talk to both Ethan and Aiden to make sure they were serious about joining the pack. He got the full story from them about their old pack and how they both became alphas. It turned out the Steiner pack was one that Peter recognized as being one of the packs that dealt with Talia a fair bit before the fire. He accepted both of them into the pack just before they left for Mexico snapping any pack bond the pair had with Deucalion. 

Stiles led the trip with Danny and Ethan. Jackson, Lydia, and Isaac were in the next SUV with Boyd, Aiden, and Cora taking the rear. Danny made sure he had GPS tracking on all three vehicles plus everyone's phones before they left just in case anyone got lost. 

Chris hooked up the three vehicles with long-range walkie talkies so they could keep in touch on the drive down. While Chris was taking Boyd and Jackson through how to operate the walkie talkies Peter handed over Derek’s passport and the pack platinum card, he implored Stiles to use it wisely.

The pack made good time driving south through Arizona. Stiles made the call to stop in Douglas, Arizona for the night to rest before pushing south to Mexico. He didn’t want them wandering around in the desert area between Janos and Ascensión in the dark.

-x-

Chris and Peter decided to wait a few hours before visiting Noah at the Sheriff’s station. They knew he was working a double and would be on duty until late Saturday afternoon. They both walked into the station and were shown back to Noah’s office.

Noah took one look at the pair of them and he asked, “What’s he done now?”

Peter smirked, “You know him so well. He and the rest of the teens are following a lead.”

Noah raised an eyebrow in challenge and he asked, “Where?”

Peter looked at Chris who huffed, “Mexico.”

Noah raised both eyebrows and he demanded, “You let a bunch of teens go to Mexico on their own?”

Peter shook his head as he patiently explained, “No, I let 9 fully capable pack members follow a lead to get their alpha back from a bitch I was sure I dealt with.”

Noah frowned, “Nine? The pack only has eleven members, one is missing and you are both here which leaves seven.”

Peter smiled, “The twins joined this morning and offered to accompany the group.”

Noah asked, “What about the alpha pack?”

Peter smirked and he flashed his new red eyes, “The alpha pack is down to Deucalion.”

Chris said, “Which is why we aren’t with the rest of the pack. Deucalion is still a problem and he is still in Beacon Hills. So in Stiles' words, we are to ‘stick to your ass like glue’ until they get home.”

Peter looked unusually self-conscious as he asked Noah, “I wanted to ask you both a favor. Could you please teach me how to shoot. It seems smart to know to use the weapons available to the pack.”

Chris chuckled and he snarked, “You just liked watching Stiles kneecap Kali before she could attack him.”

Peter shrugged a shoulder and he said, “Well yes. It seemed far more effective than claws.”

Noah moved to lean on the front of his desk with his arms crossed and he asked, “What do you want to learn? Just the handguns or the whole range?”

Peter leaned forward and he smiled as he said, “If the pack has access to it I want to learn it.”

Noah uncrossed his arms and leaned back and he said, “I finish in an hour but I am not ready to sleep, how about we go to the range when I am done and we can make a start.”

Chris smiled, “Will we be alone?”

Noah asked, “At the range? Yeah, no one tends to use the range on Saturdays since that’s when I normally take Stiles and I asked that his lessons be private.”

“Great,” Chris turned to Peter, “We can take you through all the weapons the pack has instead of just the standard-issue weapons. We just need to stop off at my storage locker to pick up the weapons cases.”

While they were waiting for Noah to finish Chris took Peter through the basics with loading and unloading his favorite Desert Eagle handgun which he always had on him. They also filled out concealed carry permit application forms for the pack members that didn’t have one yet, just to be on the safe side.

At the range Chris was standing snug behind Peter helping him get used to the gun in his hands and the best position to stand in. Peter snarked, “Do you have to stand so close, Christopher?”

Noah chuckled and he asked, “Would you like me to take over? I mean it’s easier for Chris to show you the correct position since he is taller than both of us.”

Peter gave Noah a dry look and he said, “You do realize that if any of your deputies walk in and sees either of you standing this close they will report the three of us to Stiles. He has dirt on everyone and he trades the favors for spying duties.”

Noah leaned into Peter and he whispered, “Are you scared of my son Peter?”

Peter whimpered where he was bracketed between his two favorite men and he shook his head, he said quietly, “Not entirely…”

Peter started moaning as they both started sucking marks into his neck. He snapped his head up when he heard a fourth heartbeat approaching.

A cultured British voice said silkily, “Please, don’t stop on my account.”

The three separated and they moved with guns up to face the intruder who had managed to get close enough to touch without any of them noticing.

Peter snarked, “Don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt.”

Deucalion rolled his eyes and he asked, “Where is my pack?”

Peter flared his red eyes and he shrugged, “I sent them off, I know not where.” He ignored Noah and Chris snickering behind him and he said almost to himself, “It does answer the question about an alpha pack having pack bonds.”

Chris snorted, “Of course they don’t, that would mean sharing power, having an emotional connection. Someone who slaughters their entire pack wouldn’t want that.”

Deucalion sneered, “What would an Argent know about it? How many innocent creatures have you slaughtered in your lifetime?”

Peter put a quelling hand on Chris’ arm. He snapped out, “What do you want Deuc? You don’t have a pack, Derek isn’t here for you to torment, I will never betray my pack, so seriously, why are you here?”

Deucalion didn’t answer, he just shifted and charged at the group, what he wasn’t expecting was for all three to just start firing the guns they had at the ready before he could even reach them with a claw.

Noah and Chris grabbed for Peter as he suddenly dropped to his knees. Peter gasped out, “Fucking corrupt alpha spark.”

Noah asked, “Deaton?”

Peter shook his head vehemently, he said, “No! I will be fine, I can wait until the kids get home. Stiles found a ritual he can do to cleanse the alpha spark, we weren’t sure if we would need it after Kali.”

Chris toed Deucalion’s body with his boot as he said, “Let’s deal with this before a deputy shows up for range time.”

-x-

Stiles woke the next morning with a message from his dad letting him know that Deucalion was dealt with. He texted back to try and get more details but was ignored. He just got a brief message to find Derek and hurry home.

Stiles decided 7 am was the perfect time to get on the road so he went through the various rooms banging on doors to wake the rest of the pack. They still had three hours to drive before they could start feeling for the pull of La Iglesia. They decided to stagger their drive over the border to be on the safe side and arranged to meet up in Janos.

When the last SUV pulled up at the cafe they had found after 10 am they all got talking about the pull a few of them could already feel. Aiden, Ethan, and Cora could already feel the pull coming from the east. They got on the road again heading toward Ascensión with Aiden, Cora, and Boyd taking the lead as two of the three of them could feel it the strongest. 

After ten minutes driving east toward Ascensión, they found a gravel road that was easy to miss without supernatural level eyesight heading south, they turned when Aiden let them know the pull was getting stronger from that direction. Just after the turnoff Stiles urgently screamed down he walkie talkies for them to pull over. When they stopped Danny was trying to make a run for the main road claiming he had things to do. 

Stiles asked Aiden to hold Danny still while they talked, “Danny?”

Danny nodded blearily, he said, “It’s like that Harry Potter spell. The muggle repelling one. I know we need to go there but everything in me is screaming that I need to leave, the closer we get the worse it is. Don’t you feel it?”

Stiles shook his head, he said, “No and I asked Lydia, neither of us feels the need to leave. Lydia feels a slight pull, nothing like the wolves, just a sense that we are close but no direction or anything that would lead us to the right place.”

Stiles looked up at Aiden, he was reluctant to stay parked up on the side of the road in the middle of the desert in Mexico. “He still trying to get away?”

Aiden nodded, “He’s going to exhaust himself at this rate.”

Stiles looked at Lydia and Isaac and he asked, “Can you guys take him back to Janos and wait for us there?” He watched Jackson pass Isaac his keys when Isaac nodded he continued, “We will carry our phones and the two sat phones that Argent loaned us so you can track us. If we aren’t back or at least on our way back by 8 pm head back to Douglas and wait for us at the same hotel, ok?” 

Aiden transferred Danny into Isaac’s arms and they loaded up into the SUV. Stiles used the time to move some of the spare weapons into his own SUV just in case. 

Jackson jumped in with Ethan and Stiles and they took off again following Aiden toward what they hoped was La Iglesia. 

After nearly an hour on a deserted gravel road Stiles murmured, “We must be getting close, even I am feeling the pull and I thought I was vanilla human.”

As they crested the hill they were climbing they could see ruins ahead of them. While it still looked like a church it was clear due to the crumbling state that it hadn’t been used to worship for years.

While they all gathered outside the SUVs and planned out the search, Stiles got equipped with his favorite TAC vest and he loaded himself with thigh holsters both holding the Desert Eagle handguns he was gifted by Chris for outshooting his dad. He loaded up the Mossberg 590A1 Tacticals that were in the vehicles with slugs, just in case. He had Boyd, Cora, and Jackson carry one each as a backup for his just in case they encountered something bigger than what they could handle. He offered vests to the wolves as added protection but only Cora and Jackson took him up on it. Jackson also took a pair of Glock 22 handguns as he had been trained to shoot with them before he was turned.

Stiles sent Jackson and Boyd in the front as they both had the best noses, Stiles pulled a shirt he had stolen from Derek’s laundry hamper and gave it to the pair to get a good sniff before they started moving. 

They started making their way through the temple, Jackson grizzling as they walked about the dust and cobwebs getting all over everything. Stiles was snickering as he followed not far behind him. Jackson was about to step out around a corner when Cora pulled him back by his vest.

She whispered, “Berserker waiting around the corner. I can hear the rattle of the bones. Remember what I told you Stilinski, hit the face. As long as she doesn’t have control they should be easier to kill.”

Stiles nodded and with Jackson beside him they moved around the corner and Stiles started firing slugs at the pair of Berserkers that were waiting as Jackson fired his Glocks two-handed hoping it would help. They managed to take out the first Berserker and Stiles ducked back around to swap rifles with Boyd while Jackson kept shooting. They knew from watching the first one that they had to completely shatter the face mask the Berserker was wearing for the Berserker to crumble and die.

Once the second Berserker was dead Stiles took the time to reload the rifles with Boyd’s help before they started moving again. Jackson kept murmuring that they were getting close then Stiles heard Cora gasp from beside him. She whispered, “Stop!” As loud as she dared.

She whispered, “I can hear his heartbeat, it’s slow but it’s there. The problem is there are four more berserkers between us and him.”

Stiles looked at Boyd and he handed over his spare slugs and he asked, “Can you work out how to reload if I swap out rifles?” 

Boyd nodded, “I watched you in the last tunnel, I should be able to figure it out.”

Stiles looked at Aiden and Ethan, he knew their joint shift hurt but he didn’t think any of them could beat a Berserker with hand-to-hand so he reluctantly asked, “Do you think your joined shift can take them if I run out of ammo? I have a few grenades but I am hesitant to use them as they might bring the ruins down on us.”

Aiden and Ethan looked at each other and nodded. They started to strip off their tops before they merged into one giant wolf. They said, “Go, we will cover you.”

Cora picked up their Henleys and backpacks and stuffed them all into her larger backpack. She stood behind Stiles ready to pull him back at a moment's notice while holding a loaded backup rifle in her other hand.

Stiles and Jackson nodded and moved around the corner and started firing at the Berserker who was moving toward them at speed. Both of them had learned exactly where to hit the faceplate from the previous two Berserkers and they were able to kill this one pretty quickly. Jackson’s Glocks were cracking the face plates which made it easier for the slug to penetrate and explode in the right place.

Boyd and Cora worked together to reload the rifles between Berserkers and they were able to get through the four of them to where they could pick up Derek’s heartbeat without any injuries. Now they were closer to the heartbeat all the wolves could hear the slow beat coming from behind a carving of Tezcatlipoca on what looked like an obsidian wall.

Stiles inspected it looking for hidden catches or switches to try and move the wall but there were none. He suspected it required a were jaguars claws to activate much like the Hale vault. Since it wouldn’t budge he looked at Cora and he asked, “Can you hear where behind the wall he is?”

She nodded and leaned with her ear to the wall, she slowly slid down and she said, “It sounds like his heartbeat is near the floor so he is likely lying down.”

Stiles turned to the twins merged form and he asked, “Can you punch through that and pull the pieces out this way so as little as possible lands on him? We just need a hole big enough to get him through, Jackson and Cora are smaller than him so we can send one or both of them through to help lift him out.”

They nodded and moved forward and started punching the wall, eventually they made a hole big enough for even Boyd to climb through. 

Jackson and Cora both climbed in and they hoisted up the figure that was out cold on the floor wrapped in a rope of some kind. Cora made sure to gather up the rope into her backpack so they could figure out what it was made of.

They slowly guided the figure out through the hole into Boyd’s arms.

As Boyd set him on his feet as he was starting to come around they all heard Stiles gasp.

The teen in front of them looked up as Stiles said, “Hey, I know you, you’re my old babysitter.”

The teen looked at Stiles and he asked, “Mischief?”


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffy. It was a total accident. Honest.

**November 2011**

Jackson asked, “Stiles? Do you know him?”

Cora snorted, “You all do, dumbass. That’s Derek, just… younger. Younger even than me I think, just.”

Stiles facepalmed as he muttered to himself, “Well shit, what does she gain by de-aging him?” He turned to Derek and he asked quietly, “Can you flash your eyes, please.”

Derek looked shocked as the Mischief that he remembered babysitting didn’t know about werewolves so he asked, “What… what are you talking about.”

Cora stood in front of him and she flashed her gold eyes at him. She demanded, “Flash em, Der-bear.” 

Derek surprised at hearing his family nickname, he looked at Stiles and he flashed his eyes, vivid red alpha eyes.

Stiles sagged in relief that whatever Kate had done to him it hadn’t affected his wolf. He reached up and cupped Derek’s neck, scent-marking him as was his habit with the older version of Derek. He leaned down and he said quietly, “Thanks Derek. That was perfect.”

He turned to face everyone and he said, “Right, let's get back to the vehicles and head home before Lydia kills us all for being late.”

Stiles led the way through the tunnels with Cora beside him both keeping an eye out for Berserkers. Derek was refusing to move far from Stiles as he was the only person he recognized, sort of, so he followed closely keeping a hand hooked into the back of Stiles TAC vest for his own peace of mind.

They moved fast, knowing they were getting closer to the deadline they gave Lydia, Isaac, and Danny. Stiles wanted to catch Danny before they were on the other side of the border.

Once they reached the SUVs, Stiles started putting the weapons away in the various hidden storage lockers while Boyd loaded up the cabins with snack foods and bottles of Gatorade and water. Stiles pulled Derek’s passport from the compartment it was stashed in and he moved it to sit with his on the backseat of the SUV. 

Stiles turned to Derek who was still sticking to him and he asked, “Do you want to head home with me or with your sister?”

Derek peeked around Stiles to look at Cora and he stated, “She doesn’t look like Laura, she’s too young.”

“No,” Stiles agreed, “She’s Cora. Your baby sister.”

Derek frowned, “No…,” he asked slowly as he tried to wrap his head around what was going on, “Cora died, my family all died in the fire except for Uncle Peter, me, and Laura. The only sister I have left is Laura and she won’t let me leave New York.”

Stiles pulled Derek into a hug and he said, “No, Derek, Cora wasn’t in the house when the fire started and she ran to the safe house when she saw the hunters. When no one arrived at the safe house after three days she thought she was the only survivor, so she went to Alpha Ito who smuggled her to a pack she knew in Argentina. So what's it gonna be, do you want to head back to Beacon Hills with me or Cora?”

Derek said, “I want to stay with you, I know you even if you’re older, I still know you. Cora should be 10, it feels weird.” He glanced at her before he whispered, “Plus she smells mad at me.”

Cora winced. She approached the pair slowly and she said, “I am not mad at you, I am frustrated. You never could tell those two emotions apart even when we were kids. I just got you back Der only for you to be kidnapped 3 days later. But it’s ok if you want to travel back with Stilinski. It’s probably a good idea, you guys need to figure out what happened after you went missing.”

Stiles asked Jackson, “Are you ok to drive us back to Douglas? Ethan and Aiden will probably sleep for a few hours after they shift back and I want to talk to Derek on the drive home. Work with him to figure out what’s going on.”

Jackson nodded and he held his hand out for the keys. He asked, “What are we going to do at the border?”

Stiles shrugged, “I am hoping we can use a combo of Danny magic and runic magic to get us past US Border Patrol. I am going to call home once we are away from the ruins.”

Jackson said, “After you call Lydia, right?”

Stiles snorted, “Of course,” as they all climbed into the SUVs and started the drive back to Janos. He stated flatly, “She would kill us in our sleep if we didn’t let her know of our success.”

Once they were out of the hills that hid the ruins from the world, Stiles first made a quick call to Lydia to let her know they had Derek and they would all meet them in Janos before the push to the border.

He turned to Derek after he hung up and he asked, “No matter what or who you hear I need you to trust me.”

Derek narrowed his eyes and he asked, “Who are you calling?”

“Peter,” Stiles sighed when Derek perked up, “He has the Hale library from the vaults in his office. He should be able to find me something I can use to make your passport work for your current age. But if he is following my instructions he will be with my dad and Chris.”

Derek demanded, “Then you will explain what you know about what is going on?”

Jackson snorted from the front seat but kept his comments to himself.

Stiles smiled, “As much as I can, sure.” 

Stiles made the call, “Peter? Who is there with you?”

Peter smiled, “Just Noah and Chris, we are sticking to your dad like you requested darling boy. Did you find him?”

Stiles smiled, “Yes, well… sort of, that’s why I am calling. We are going to need help getting over the border.”

Stiles could hear Peter moving and switching the call to the speaker as he asked, “What happened?”

Stiles looked at Derek and he asked, “What’s the year as you remember it?”

Derek dutifully answered, “It’s 2005. November 2005.”

Stiles answered, “He’s still an alpha but he’s around my age… And as far as I can tell he has no memories between the age he is now and the Derek we know.”

Peter asked, “Have you actually looked at his passport?”

Stiles reached into the pocket behind the driver's seat where he had stashed their documents and pulled out the passports. He flipped open Derek’s and found it was issued just after he turned 16. He asked, “So this was issued just before the fire, and then what? Stored in the vault?”

Peter replied in agreement, “Yes, all legal documents like passports, wills, and the like were stored away from the house. Just in case.”

“Right,” Stiles asked, “So I just need a rune that stops the border patrol officer looking at the fact that he hasn’t aged, and that his passport doesn’t register the trip into Mexico.”

Chris spoke up and he said, “I might be able to help with that, where are you crossing the border?”

Stiles felt Derek stiffen when he heard Chris speak and put a hand on his knee in comfort as he mouthed, ‘trust me’ before he replied, “Douglas, Arizona.”

Chris muttered, “Well that answers how she got him over the border.” Louder he said, “The Argent family has various people open to bribes on both sides of the border. It is surprising though that she was able to avoid the Calaveras since they pay the same people. I can call the agents we have in US customs and get them to keep an eye out for you. If you travel in a group they can process you through quickly.

Stiles asked, “Are border patrol aware of the supernatural?”

Chris replied, “Not usually no, but Douglas and Agua Prieta both have a large supernatural community on both sides of the border, so most who work border patrol in Douglas are either supernatural themselves or aware of it.”

Stiles nodded and he said, “So is there anything we can do to the passport just in case? Something to make the officer overlook everything?”

Peter moved closer to the phone and he answered, “I can’t recall anything off the top of my head, how long until you reach Douglas?”

Stiles tried to work out how long they had before they reached Janos, he replied, “Maybe three, three and a half hours.”

“Ok,” Peter answered, “Leave it with us, we will go through the library and we will send through anything we find.”

Stiles asked, “Also see if that book we have out about Tezcatlipoca has anything in it about de-aging rituals.

“Will do,” Peter answered before he was interrupted by Chris asking, “Any issues at La Iglesia?”

Stiles shook his head unconsciously before he said, “No issues, but we will need more slugs and ammo for the Glock. Both together worked awesomely against the Berserkers but it does take a lot to kill them. I also want Jackson training with us at the range, he kicked ass with the Glock once he got used to the noise.”

“Got it,” Chris confirmed, “We will let you know if we find anything in the books. Drive safe ok.”

“Thanks, Chris, we will see you all tomorrow,” Stiles confirmed before he ended the call.

As soon as the call ended Derek demanded, “You side with an Argent? What the hell.”

Stiles shrugged, “He is loyal to the pack. You trust him, well older you does.”

Derek raised an eyebrow and he asked, “I trust an Argent? Seriously?”

Stiles snickered and he reached out to run his fingers down Derek’s raised eyebrow and he said, “You still need to grow into these. Grown-up you has murder brows that can kill at 5 paces. And yes, you seriously trust an Argent. So much so you are letting him court your Uncle Peter. He even asked you for permission to court him.”

Jackson laughed in the front seat, “It’s hilarious to watch at times. Although I suspect it’s a case of Peter doth protest too much.”

Stiles asked, “Can I ask about Laura. You mentioned in the ruins that she wouldn’t let you leave New York.”

Derek scowled and he said, “She’s a very controlling alpha. I had to fight just to be able to go to school, she was determined to homeschool me. I have been trying to convince her to bring Uncle Peter to New York but she wouldn’t let me and refuses to let me visit him no matter how much I beg.”

Stiles muttered, “What a bitch.” He looked up at Derek and he asked, “So you’re seventeen right now?”

Derek nodded, “Yeah although I only just started my Junior year at high school thanks to Laura and the fire. If it helps it was the 26th of November when I last remember being in our… apartment.”

Stiles asked, “Not an apartment?”

Derek laughed, “No. It’s a bedsit attached to a cat ladies' house. I think it was maybe an illegal sublet. Laura wouldn’t rent anything that would require her to provide I.D.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, he muttered, “Well that explains your penchant for living in condemned buildings.” He looked down at his phone and he pulled up the photos app. He pulled up a photo he had taken of Derek that was missing the eye flare and he showed it to Derek as he explained, “Ok, so it's now the 30th of November 2011, technically you are 23 about to turn 24.”

Derek asked, “What did you mean, with the condemned buildings comment?”

Stiles explained, “When you first got back to Beacon Hills you lived in the burnt-out shell off your old house then when Kate kept finding you there you moved to an abandoned subway station in town. You didn’t find an apartment until I pushed you into it.”

Derek facepalmed, “Damn.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow but before he could ask Derek to explain the comment Derek asked, “How did I get back to Beacon Hills?”

Stiles looked out the window of the SUV as Derek could smell nerves and fear coming from him.

Jackson cleared his throat from the front and he said, “Tell him Stilinski, he doesn’t smell angry, just curious.”

Stiles sighed and he asked, “Do you know what happens to a wolf when it is in a coma?”

Derek blinked at the change in subject but he answered, “No, I just know it’s not good.”

Stiles agreed, “No, it absolutely isn’t. Peter slowly went insane in the six years he was in the coma. He was also being tortured by hunters who knew where he was, they had a nurse placed in the hospital who was keeping him dosed with wolfsbane. Laura left him in the hospital under his real name, he wasn’t hard to find.”

“Fuck. I knew she didn't like him but I didn't realize she wanted him dead.” Derek exclaimed.

Stiles asked, “Did she know about Kate? That Kate raped you?”

Derek tried to scramble back but Stiles reached out and grabbed his wrist before he could hit the car door. Jackson muttered a quiet, “Fucking hell Stilinski.” From the driver's seat.

“Sorry,” Stiles muttered, “Sorry, but it’s true. Even if you consented it was still rape. I did the math, you were 16 when she started teaching at your school, she was 29. There is no way that was a balanced safe relationship. Oh and FYI, she had blueprints for your house, blueprints that included all the tunnels under the house. Chris found them in her safety deposit box after she died.”

Derek frowned, “So I didn’t show her how to get in?”

Stiles shook his head, he said, “It was part of her MO. She has taken out eight packs that we know of using this MO, she always seduces a teen boy from the pack and she leaves them alive so they can feel the guilt of killing their pack.”

Derek whispered, “It wasn’t my fault.”

Stiles unclipped Derek’s seatbelt and he pulled him into his lap and he murmured, “It really was not your fault Sourwolf. She is a psychopath and a sexual predator, she chose you out of convenience.”

Jackson cleared his throat and he said, “We are approaching Janos. Are we meeting up in the same place as this morning?”

Stiles checked his phone and read the text he had from Lydia before he answered, “Yep. Lydia has stocked up on food for us all and is waiting with Isaac and Danny outside the same coffee shop.”

Jackson replied, “Let her know we are about five minutes away.”

Stiles sent off the text then resumed cuddling with Derek.

When they arrived as they got out of the SUVs Stiles heard Isaac ask, “Is that Derek?”

He grinned as he replied, “Sort of.”

Lydia handed out the pile of sandwiches she had ordered from the coffee shop before they closed.

Stiles checked on Ethan and Aiden who were still asleep in the two SUVs. Derek asked, “Why are they asleep?”

Stiles explained, “They are twins who have a combined shift. Do you remember the tall wolf you saw when we pulled you out of the ruin?”

Derek nodded in understanding, “Yeah, he looked taller and bigger than Ennis. So it exhausts them to do it?”

Stiles snorted as he answered, “Very much so.” He checked his watch before he continued, “They should start waking up in an hour or so based on what Ethan told me on the trip down.”

He gathered everyone up once they were done eating and resting and he said, “We should be fine getting back over the border, Chris has contacted a friend at US Border Patrol who is aware of the kidnapping and de-aging issue with Derek. He will keep an eye out for us so we need to travel in a group instead of staggered.”

He turned to Cora and he asked, “Are you good to drive us back to Douglas? I still have things to explain to Derek.”

Cora nodded so Jackson handed over the keys for the SUV, Lydia handed over a pile of sandwiches for Ethan and she gave Boyd a pile for Aiden before they all loaded up and headed out.

After they had been driving for about twenty minutes Derek asked quietly, “What happened to Laura?”

Stiles sighed, “Peter killed her when she returned to Beacon Hills. Best we can figure is she was lured back by his nurse.”

Derek asked, “The same nurse the hunters put there to torture him?”

Stiles nodded as he explained, “It all got very messy. What we think happened is that she was using a specific combination of wolfsbane to suppress the human and she was letting the wolf out on the full moons. Laura was wandering around in the preserve and we think that Peter’s wolf was pissed at her and killed her for abandoning him. We are not 100% sure though as Peter’s memories of that time are a bit hazy due to the insanity.”

“He sounded fine on the phone though,” Derek commented.

Stiles held up his hand and he snarked, “Stop trying to skip to the good bits. Right, so Peter killed Laura and then went back to the long term care unit, sometime after he killed her hunters got hold of her body and cut it in half leaving the two half in the preserve. Joggers found her legs just off one of the jogging trails sparking a hunt for the rest of the body.”

Derek deadpanned, “Let me guess, you went looking for it.”

Cora cracked up laughing from the driver's seat, “He knows you well Stiles.”

Stiles snarked, “He babysat me for years. I can’t believe I didn’t click that Derek, my babysitter was the same person as Derek Hale, my sourwolf.”

Cora tilted her head and she looked at Derek in the rearview mirror and she said, “Well, without the eyebrows he doesn’t really look like the Derek who rescued me. Plus the others told me that the year of the fire was hell for you, that’s when you had to repeat a year and you ended up in the same year with all of them.”

Derek looked at Stiles in shock, “Oh gods, we left you, we were your support after your mom died and we left you behind.”

Stiles nodded sadly, “I was ok Sourwolf. I just put a lot of what happened before the fire out of my mind for the most part. It was easier that way.”

Stiles took a deep breath before he asked, “Right where was I up to, that's right, so we went looking for the body. I dragged my best friend at the time out with me, Scott. Dad caught me out in the preserve but Scott got away and he was bitten by Peter while he was trying to find his way back to the Jeep.”

Derek asked, “At the time?”

Stiles flailed at Derek and he exclaimed, “Seriously, stop trying to skip to the good parts,” Stiles heard Cora chuckling from the front seat so he snarked, “Quiet in the cheap seats.”

Cora said, “You know, this is the first time I am hearing this, my introduction to the pack was kind of rushed plus no one else knew any of this stuff.” 

Stiles nodded, “Yeah, we kinda kept quiet on the early messy stuff. Right, so a few weeks after Laura died you came back to Beacon Hills from New York and brooded your way around town. We accidentally got you arrested for the murder of your sister, for which I totally apologized. I taught Scott how to be a werewolf from info I found online and what little you would teach us while we tried to figure out who killed Laura and got her Alpha spark. Peter was still apparently comatose at the hospital so he was eliminated as a suspect. Shit finally came to a head after Kate kidnapped you and kept you in the tunnels under your old house torturing you for a week. Seriously she’s a total psycho, Peter bit Lydia who was immune to the bite and then kidnapped me to force me to find you.”

Derek looked at Stiles with wide eyes, “Seriously? This is sounding more like one of mom's Telenovelas.”

Stiles nodded as he agreed, “Seriously, more drama than you could shake a stick at, I haven’t even mentioned the night you nearly died at the school, all the times Scott wolfed out and nearly killed me or the Argent’s being raging douches. Anyway, so Peter went off to rescue you and I forced Jackson to help me make more Molotov cocktails to the recipe Lydia gave me before we took his fancy Porsche to your old house. When we got there Peter had ripped Kate's throat out, and he was threatening Chris and his daughter Allison. Me and Jackson threw our Molotovs at Peter and Allison shot them when he caught them so they exploded. Once he was lying on the ground all crispy you ripped his throat out and became the alpha.”

Derek asked, “You set a burn victim on fire?”

Stiles nodded, “Not my finest moment but seriously, the amount of stress we were going through at the time made thinking of other options difficult. Peter and I talked it out later and he agreed there was not much else that would have worked.”

Derek frowned and he asked, “But he died.”

Stiles smirked and he said, “He got better. Lydia is a banshee and was able to resurrect him which cured his insanity somehow.”

Cora snorted from the front seat. Stiles ignored her and he said, “So you after you killed Peter you started to build a pack. You bit Jackson, Isaac, Erica, and Boyd and you tried to get Scott into your pack but he was… resistant. Jackson didn’t turn and seemed fine, but it turns out he had turned into a creature called the kanima, a giant murder lizard who is controlled by a master. He ended up with two masters, first a kid from school who took him on a rampage ending up at the sheriff station taking out a bunch of deputies before he was killed by Gerard fucking Argent who then became his new master.”

Derek said flatly, “That sounds like every bad villainous idea rolled into one package.”

Stiles nodded vigorously, “Yep, so he used Scott and the Kanima to force you to bite him after beating the living shit out of me and torturing two of your betas in his murder basement.”

Derek looked horrified, “I bit that evil bastard?”

Stiles nodded as he confirmed, “You did, but you had to be paralyzed by kanima venom and held in place by Scott before you did. Peter found Gerard after the event crawling away leaking black goo. Apparently, Scott had dosed his cancer medication in mountain ash. Peter took him out to the preserve and killed him before he sent his head plus the evidence of his and Kate's crimes to the hunter's council.”

Derek asked, “That’s not all is it?”

Stiles shook his head and he said, “Not quite, no. So I was dropped off after the epic beat down and I helped with getting Jackson to change from kanima to werewolf which was awesome! You found me after I drove home where I was stuck in my car due to broken ribs and the fact that I was a walking bruise. You took me to the hospital while Peter went to rescue your betas, Erica and Boyd. Chris had found them earlier in the basement and horrified he let them go. When he found out his daughter was the one to chase them down and capture them and that she assisted in my beating, he took her to the sheriff's station and handed her in for the kidnapping and her part in my assault.” 

Stiles took a steadying breath before he continued, “We found out later that the betas had been taken again by the Alpha Pack led by Deucalion. Erica turned up dead at the front door of your old house and the forensics led us to where Boyd and Cora were being held. We were able to break in and get them back, on the way out you killed Ennis with a bit of help from me. You said something about it being a good thing since he bit Paige. A few days later while you were still recovering you were kidnapped by Kate. We have spent the past three weeks trying to find you.”

Derek snorted, “Yep, this is way more drama than one of mom's telenovelas. So why did Kate take me?”

Stiles shrugged, “We don’t know, we think she is trying to perform a ritual that would give her control of the Berserkers. But it requires absolute control over her shift, we think she might have kidnapped you to force you to teach her control.”

Derek sat and thought about it while Stiles checked on Ethan who was just starting to wake up. He let Ethan know that sandwiches and drinks were in the glove compartment in front of him.

Derek said hesitantly, “When Kate was dating me I was having trouble with control after Paige died. I went through a phase where I hated being a wolf. Peter gave me a talisman to help me with control, I would hold it while chanting the mantra of our pack. Kate saw me doing it a few times and I told her what was going on. She might have de-aged me to get the talisman if she is having control issues. The last time I saw the talisman was when I put it back in the vault under the school.”

Stiles pondered, “So why de-age you to a point after the fire? Wouldn’t it make more sense to take you back to a point where you trusted her?”

Cora asked, “Could the ritual have been messed up, or interrupted?”

Stiles shrugged, “It’s possible, we will do more research when we get home.”

Stiles felt his phone vibrate and he checked it to see a message from Chris telling him everything was set at the border and to text when they were close. That it was a skeleton crew on duty and they wouldn’t need a rune on the passport.

Stiles passed the info on via a group text and they all settled back and rested for the last part of the journey.


	8. Chapter Eight

**November 2011**

The rest of the trip back to Beacon Hills was fairly uneventful and they all arrived at the loft just before dinner on Monday. Peter, Chris, and Noah made sure they had a huge meal waiting for them all when they arrived.

Derek took one look at Peter and he said, “Damn, Uncle Peter, you got old.”

Peter gently cuffed the back of his head before he pulled him in for a hug. He murmured in his ear, “I’m glad you’re finally home pup.”

Peter was surprised that Derek wrapped him in a hug and murmured, “I’m glad you survived Uncle Peter.”

Peter moved them all to the large dining table and the pack sat as a group to eat.

Noah cleared his throat, he looked around at all the kids and he said, “I have let your parents and the school know that I had borrowed you all to help Stiles with a project. However, you are all expected back at school tomorrow. I had a deputy pick up any homework assignments and they are up in Stiles office.”

Derek asked, “What about me, Sir?”

Stiles snorted and Noah replied, “Kid, call me Noah. As for you I think you will be helping with some research into your de-aging with Peter. I am sure Stiles, Danny, and Lydia will help around homework.”

Danny was tapping his phone impatiently when he spoke up, “We have a bigger problem. Kate is on her way here.”

Danny ignored the many exclamations of ‘WHAT!’ as he explained, “I had set my facial recognition program to scan the various routes between La Iglesia and Beacon Hills. She has basically been following us all the way from Mexico. She will arrive sometime tomorrow depending on if she stops for the night to sleep.”

Peter asked, “Have you worked out what she wants yet?”

Stiles wriggled his hand in a so-so motion as he said, “Sort of… we have ideas but we don’t know for sure. So we know the ritual she is using needs her to have total control over her shift, right?” He saw the adults all nod as he continued, “Right so when Kate seduced Derek while she was working as a substitute teacher Derek was having control issues after Paige and he was using a triskelion talisman to relearn control over his shift.”

Stiles looked at Peter and he asked, “It was you who gave it to him and was teaching him, wasn’t it?”

Peter nodded and he explained, “The talisman was just a trinket, something I found in a flea market that had the triskele on it. I found it worked well with cubs who needed help with the mantra. It was something they could focus on as they thought about what Alpha, Beta, Omega meant to them.”

Derek huffed, “Seriously Uncle Peter?”

Peter smirked at him as he stated, “It worked didn’t it? So you think she’s after the talisman? She probably thinks it has mystical properties that will give her control.”

Derek laughed as he said, “Well that’s how I explained it to her when she asked. I didn’t know any better. She does know I put it back in the vault but she doesn’t know where the vault is.”

Chris frowned and he stood and said, “Hang on, I want to double-check that.” He walked up the stairs and the wolves could all hear him enter his office and start rifling through boxes. He came back down ten minutes later with a cylinder and a manilla folder. He opened the cylinder and pulled out a series of blueprints and he laid them out on the dining table now that all the food was cleared away.”

He explained, “These are all the blueprints Kate had filed away for the Hale fire.”

Stiles asked incredulously, “She filed away the evidence? Is she fucking stupid.”

Chris coughed and he ignored the question as he and Peter were combing through the various blueprints and tunnel maps. Peter said, “The vault and the tunnels that lead to it aren’t on the blueprints. It’s not surprising given the vault and associated tunnels all existed long before the town did. It became second nature for all of us to keep the existence of the vault limited to pack only.” He turned to Derek and he asked, “When you told her you put the talisman back in the vault did you use that word or something like it?”

Derek shrugged, “I can’t remember. A lot of my interactions with her are a bit hazy. I do remember answering questions if asked though. I never worked out why though.”

Chris pulled a sheet of paper out of the manilla folder and he handed it to Derek, before he let it go he said, “Look, this is going to be difficult to read but it's the research into a specific strain of wolfsbane. Yellow wolfsbane, it's a favorite strain of Kates. It makes wolves more malleable. Open to suggestion.”

Stiles looked at Peter and he asked, “Are you good to get these guys started on their homework?”

Peter nodded so Stiles interlaced his fingers with Derek’s and he dragged him up to his office which could be soundproofed. Stiles shut and locked the door and he used a whiteboard pen to etch the soundproofing rune on the whiteboard behind the door.

Stiles turned and he pulled the sheet of paper out of Derek’s hand and placed it on his desk before he turned and pushed Derek down into the sofa. He said, “I want to explain some things that you told me before you read that. Ok?”

Derek nodded as he got comfortable on the sofa facing Stiles with his legs crossed under him.

Stiles sighed as he explained, “So when you got to Beacon Hills you were a giant ball of manpain, you barely spoke, one-word answers or just straight-up ‘No’ to everything. Even as a human I could feel the guilt rolling off you. I always thought it was because you blamed yourself for Laura dying. While I was recovering from the beatdown from hell you talked while I couldn’t. I had broken ribs so bad that one had to be operated on to repair it, I struggled to breathe while it healed and couldn’t talk much without making myself cough. It was messy, so you talked to fill the empty space but you eventually ran out of things to talk about and you ended up telling me about your life in New York.”

Derek frowned, “I know it’s not good but it’s not that bad.”

Stiles smiled sadly, “On the first anniversary of the fire you told Laura what Kate had done. That she had seduced you to get information on the house. You were stunned by how badly Laura took the news. She blamed you entirely and spent any time you had together making sure you knew she blamed you, she said that it was because you were weak and pussy blind that you were sucked in by a pretty face. Laura refused from that point on to touch you or scent mark you and you spent much of the five years after that living apart. The only reason she didn’t make you omega is she didn’t want you returning to Beacon Hills. By keeping you as her beta she could force you to live in exile away from Peter who would have healed with you in town. Which she knew.”

Derek frowned and he asked, “Why would she do that?”

Stiles shrugged sadly as he said, “We never found out. She died and there was nothing in her personal effects to explain it. That's beside the point,” 

Stiles stood and he walked to the file cabinet behind the desk and he pulled out the binders with the evidence of Kate’s actions and he passed them to Derek with the piece of paper Chris gave him earlier. Derek started flipping through them while Stiles explained, “The folders are copies of the evidence I collected proving that Kate is a serial killer. One folder for each of the six packs I discovered she had killed. All but your family had only one survivor, the teenager she seduced. She and her father, who ordered her to kill the packs, come under the family annihilator type of serial killers.”

Derek snarled, “Kate needs to die.”

Stiles nodded, “She does, it’s just a matter of how.”

Derek asked, “What about Chris, won’t he object? Isn’t Kate his little sister?”

Stiles shook his head and he said, “Chris understands, he knew that when Peter killed Kate the first time that she was beyond help even then. Now, he knows she has to die especially if she is a shifter, no human prison will help her now.”

Derek asked, “She wants me right? So why don’t we use me as bait? She thinks I am going to be a malleable teen again. One who probably trusts her. So why don’t we use that against her?”

Stiles frowned and he started pacing thinking through how to protect Derek while he was bait. He said, “I want someone with you at all times, I also want you to carry a tracking chip where she wouldn’t expect to find it. She needs to believe you escaped and made your way home on your own so she can’t see anyone she would recognize around you.”

Derek nodded and he asked, “Your dad is the sheriff, right? Why not bring a deputy or two in on it as backup.”

Stiles stood and held his hand out for Derek to take. Stiles led him down the stairs and he called out, “Daddio, what deputies do you trust to know about the supernatural aside from Tara?”

Peter answered, “That new guy, the one with the baby face, he’s not entirely human, maybe bring him in on the secret?”

Noah frowned and he asked, “Deputy Parrish? What makes you say he’s not entirely human?”

Peter wrinkled his nose and he said, “His scent, he smells like fire. It’s quite disconcerting.”

Stiles asked, “So what? Is he a phoenix, a dragon…?”

Peter shrugged, “Maybe, it’s not a scent I have come across before. He may not even know, it may be dormant. Anyway, focus, what’s the plan?”

Stiles stood tall next to Derek at the bottom of the spiral staircase and he explained, “Derek has offered to be bait to find out what she wants,” He held up his hand to forestall the pack's many objections, “He has agreed to have someone from the pack with him, it will need to exclude anyone Kate will recognize. He has also agreed to wear a GPS tracking chip, one that is innocuous that she won’t know about.”

Danny smiled and he pulled a small object out of his laptop bag that he had sitting on the table and he flicked it across to Derek. “It's a chip that will work through clothing, I recommend putting it in your shoe or somewhere else she won’t think to look. At some point I would like all of the pack to carry these.”

Stiles continued to explain, “While Derek is out playing bait I want those of us who can’t tail him to be here researching the de-aging rituals. We need to know which one she used and if there are any consequences, oh, and how to change him back.”

Derek interrupted as he moved to sit in the empty love seat pulling Stiles down with him, “She is going to expect me to go to the old house. Maybe get your deputies to pick me up there when she gets close so she sees me in the cruiser.”

Danny smiled, “There are a few security cameras on the road out to the preserve I can tap into. I can also tap into the cameras on the outskirts of town so you know when to head out there. Maybe call Tara and the new guy here and see if they are ok with the plan before we go much further?”

Noah called the deputies to the loft and the pack adults read in Parrish and explained the situation with Kate while the teens all gathered at the table doing their homework and catching up on what they missed that day at school. 

Danny walked over and flopped down on the love seat beside Derek and he asked, “What high school are you attending in New York? I can try and get your transcripts in case we need to enroll you here.”

Derek asked, “You think I won’t change back?”

Danny grinned, “I think you will, I am just the type to plan for the worst so we are ready for it. At this point the worst-case scenario would be you staying your current age.”

Derek murmured quietly, “Would it? From what Mischief has been saying and judging by how you all interact with me, or should I say don’t interact with me, it seems like older me is a bit of a dick.”

Stiles flopped down on the other side of Derek squeezing himself between the arm of the love seat and Derek. He said, “Not a dick, just… broody. Older you went through hell after you told Laura about Kate. I spent the last six months trying to convince older you, him, that the fire was in no way his fault. He still didn’t believe me. He was a work in progress and I was winning.”

Derek grumped, “That's what I mean though, why would I want to go back to being, how did you say it, a giant ball of man pain?”

Stiles muttered, “Something like that." He looked over at Derek and he explained, "Look, grown-up you isn’t all bad, underneath that broody surface is a soft floofy marshmallow who comes out to play every so often.”

Derek asked, “And us? What were you and grown-up me to each other.”

Danny abruptly stood and went back to the homework table. Stiles chuckled and he leaned forward and whispered in Derek’s ear so it would be hard for the others to hear, “We are dating, taking things very slowly.”

Derek whispered back just as quietly, “Did I admit you are my mate?”

Stiles' eyes widened and Derek quickly whispered, “Clearly that’s a no.”

Stiles sighed and muttered, “Fucking Kate. Bitch needs to die, permanently this time.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes and desperate for a subject change he asked, “Peter, how did you kill Deucalion?”

Peter grinned and he said, “He tried to ambush the three of us at the range while Chris and Noah were teaching me to shoot. After a short villain monologue, it must have been the British in him, he tried to rush us but we all just lifted our guns and shot him until he was dead.”

Stiles asked, “Do you need that potion to cleanse the spark? I had some made up before we provoked Kali just in case.”

Peter asked as he walked over to join them on the love seat, “I thought it was a ritual.”

Stiles shook his head, “The ritual is done while the potion is being made, specific spells done as certain ingredients are added. It's fiddly and it was a struggle to do with my ADHD brain. I will grab the potion once we are done here. It will do its work while you sleep.”

Derek asked, “So you are the alpha now, Uncle Peter?”

Peter shook his head, “I am an alpha, and I took on the alpha spark to help the pack while you were missing but you are the Hale Pack alpha.”

Derek squeaked, “I’m only 17, how the hell can I be the alpha?”

Peter pat his knee and reassured, “I will train you the way my parents trained me. I will help you alpha the pack until you are ready to take over. You also have an alpha mate in Stiles who has been helping you lead the pack for the last 6 months.”

Stiles asked incredulously, “You knew?”

Peter nodded sadly, “He wasn’t going to tell you until your 18th birthday but he did ask for your dad’s permission to court you properly.”

Stiles muttered, “Fucking Kate.” He looked toward where the Deputies were in a discussion with Chris and Noah and he asked, “Are they in?”

Peter nodded and he explained, “Danny is going to skip tomorrow to monitor the cameras.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes and he asked, “You don’t seem concerned with him skipping.”

Peter chuckled and he snarked, “I am fully aware that you, Lydia, and Danny could sit your exit exams and graduate early. Jackson too if he had a month to prepare.”

Stiles demanded, “I want to be at the station. It wouldn’t be unusual for me to be there.”

Jackson who was closest to the four adults relayed the demand and Stiles watched as Noah nodded in agreement.

-x-

“She must have driven through the night,” Danny commented as he pointed out Kate on the cameras from the next town over.

Deputies Parrish and Graeme stood from their places beside Danny at the dining table and they silently walked out to the cruiser with Derek. 

Derek held up his phone as he left the loft to let the others know he would be watching for the text.

Stiles followed them out and left in Roscoe to the Sheriff’s station to wait for them. He was going to hang out in his dad's office to do research into possible de-aging rituals.

After half an hour a text came through from Danny

From Danny: Psycho spotted, near Hale house in red Toyota Camry. Her skin looked blue. WTF  
From Derek: We are on our way to the station. Will keep an eye out for her.  
From Derek: We just passed her, I waved, she tried to look happy to see me but she looked angry. And blue.

Derek walked into the station with the deputies and he sat in the front waiting area as if he was waiting for a parent.

While he was waiting Stiles walked out and waited behind Roscoe. Danny had given him a tracker that could be stuck to Kate’s car just in case she did manage to overpower Derek.

He saw Kate pull in and saunter into the station bold as brass. He shook his head at the audacity then moved forward to stick the chip under her rear bumper before he made his way back inside through the backdoor using his dad’s access card.

Kate moved into the station reception area and sat beside Derek unaware that she was being watched by multiple parties.

Derek turned to her and with fake surprise on his face he breathed out, “Kate?”

She nodded as she replied, “Hey, handsome. Been a long time.”


	9. Chapter Nine

**November 2011**

“She took the bait,” Stiles said quietly as he watched the security camera that was focused on the Front Desk area.

Jordan Parrish asked, “So what happens now?”

Stiles glanced up at the new deputy and he said, “Now we follow the rest of the plan and we head to the vault and set up an ambush. Peter and Deaton are already there setting up runic wards in the vault so we can hide there to wait.”

Stiles stood to leave and he turned back when he noticed that Jordan wasn’t following him, he turned and he asked, “Are you coming, Deputy Parrish?”

Jordan stood to follow him and he said, “Call me Jordan. So are we taking the cruiser?”

Stiles shook his head as he explained, “Nope, it’s a school day, it will stick out like a sore thumb. We are going to take Roscoe who is usually parked in the student parking lot. We will need to go in through the locker room entrance as the main entrance is under the school sign. Derek is delaying her by using the excuse that they can’t enter the vault while there are people at the school. We will text him when we are all in place.”

As they were driving to the school Stiles looked over at Jordan and he asked, “What are you?”

Jordan frowned and he said, “Human, like you.”

Stiles snorted and he said, “I am not entirely human.” To prove his point he held his hand out flat over the gearshift and conjured a ball of lightning in his hand before letting it die out. He explained, “I am a Spark, I have magic. You on the other hand, well, humans don’t smell of fire and that’s what all the wolves could smell on you. Is there any history of creatures in your family?”

Jordan shook his head and he laughed, “The first I had heard of anything supernatural was last night. Before that I was a normal human living a normal life as a former Army Bomb Squad Technician who is now a Sheriff’s Deputy.”

Stiles asked, “So why Beacon Hills?”

Jordan shrugged, “I don’t know. I felt drawn here I guess. When I talked to my CO about next steps after I was medically discharged I mentioned Beacon Hills and he said to look up your dad. They served together when your dad was an Army Ranger.”

Stiles smiled and said, “Cool. We can help you figure out if you are supernatural or not if you like once this crisis is averted. Right now though we are here, let's go.”

They walked into the locker rooms and found Peter waiting for them at the Vault entrance. They quickly entered so Peter could shut the door before gym class ended.

Peter commented as they walked in, “Derek is keeping her distracted at the diner she used to take him to while they wait for the end of the school day as we planned. That gives us a bit of time to set up for their entrance.”

Stiles asked, “Who is watching them?”

Peter looked down at his phone and he said, “Danny is still tracking his GPS chip and Tara is with Chris and they are watching them from a distance.”

Stiles asked, “So what’s the plan? Warded area behind the shelves for us all to hide in?”

Alan nodded and he gestured to the area he was setting up behind the left bank of shelves. He asked, “Stiles, do you feel confident you can set the same scheme up behind the other set of shelves?”

Stiles moved forward and he studied the runes that were spread out around the floor, he started taking photos with his phone as he asked, “Mirror configuration but not mirrored runes?”

Alan smiled as he nodded, “Yes, exactly so. This will hide everyone, sound, sight, and scent who is standing within the boundary of the runes from anyone standing outside the runes.” He looked around looking pensive as he asked, “Does Derek seem ok aside from the de-aging issue?”

Stiles nodded and he confirmed, “I checked him with my magic periodically while we were on the way home and he seemed fine. A little disoriented at times but I think that maybe due to his body having alpha orders that required him to stay in New York and his wolf actually being an alpha. It seemed to fade the closer we got to Beacon Hills though.”

Alan pondered, “Or as his body accepted that he is an alpha wolf.”

Stiles smiled, “Or that. To be honest I was more worried about getting us all home in one piece without Kate or the Calaveras following us.”

Deaton chuckled, “That’s entirely understandable. Right, I will finish charging these runes while you get started on the other set.”

As Stiles was drawing the runes on the floor he asked Peter, “So who do you want in here for the ambush? 

Peter said, “You, Chris and Jackson. Maybe Boyd and the Twins for muscle. With Noah, Tara, Lydia, Danny, Isaac, and Cora guarding the main entrance from their places outside. They will make sure she didn’t bring anyone else with her to guard her back.”

Stiles asked, “Do you want Jordan outside too? Plausible deniability and all that stuff.”

Peter considered Jordan who squirmed under the older man's attention. He said, “I agree, swap Jordan with Cora.”

Jordan agreed with a quiet, “Yes please. I have no issues with what is planned but it wouldn’t be good if anyone got word that a deputy witnessed a supernatural execution.”

Peter sent out the updated orders by text message while Stiles and Alan finished up the warded spaces. Jordan kept an eye on the main entry tunnel just in case Kate and Derek arrived early while they were working.

Once the school day was over the students all made their way into the locker room and Peter let them into the chamber as he let Alan out. He promised to text Alan and let him know when it was all over. 

Chris arrived ten minutes after the students with all the weapons they would need and he handed over guns to both Stiles and Jackson. Peter briefed the pack and Jordan on where they would be positioned for when Kate arrived in the vault. He sent them all off to get into place and he sent a quick text to Derek to let him know they were ready for him. Jordan left with the students to brief Noah and Tara who had just arrived at the school. They left again to move the cruiser away from the school and returned on foot to watch the entrance.

Peter perked up when he could hear Kate and Derek talking outside the vault. He could faintly hear Derek protesting, “I don’t know about this. I’m not supposed to show the vault to anyone outside my family.”

Kate wheedled, “Come on, we talked about this.”

Derek agreed, “Yeah, but, how do you even know?”

Kate said confidently, “Because you told me. Don’t you remember? Tell me if you remember this?” She gave him a filthy kiss and it took all of Derek’s self-control to not shove her away and rip out her throat. She was so absorbed in her plan she didn’t even notice the disinterest from Derek and she ordered, “We get inside the vault. We get the Triskelion and then everything goes back to normal.”

Derek asked, “That’s all you want?”

Kate replied, “That’s all we need. But right now we have to get inside that vault.”

Derek led her to the entrance and he flicked out his claws and started unlocking the vault. 

Meanwhile inside the vault Peter hissed, “Don’t kill her too quickly, she is working with someone and the vault is the key. Disarm and surround her so we can try to get the information before we end her.”

As the entrance started opening Kate asked, “Why would your family build a vault under a high school.”

Derek led her down the steps as he said, “The vault was here first.”

Derek started looking around the vault looking for the talisman. He saw a post-it behind one of the boxes telling him to hide behind a shelf when the trouble started. He covered the post-it with an empty box as he found the box the talisman was stored in. He took it over to Kate and he opened the box to show her the contents.

Kate demanded, “This is it? You’re sure?”

Derek nodded in agreement, “Yeah.”

Kate said dismissively, “It doesn’t look like much.”

Peter stepped out from behind the opposite shelf and he said, “That's 'cause it isn’t.” 

He inspected his nails to give the impression he was bored of the whole situation before he snarked, “Quite the elaborate scheme you have here, Kate. Two countries, Aztec temples, Derek returned to a teenager. One that you thought trusted you. One that was supposed to have loved you. All this complication just to gain access to our vault. Just to get your hands on that little piece of junk. Turn it over. Go ahead. There's a scrape on the back where it used to say ‘Made in China.’”

Derek used Peter’s distraction to move into the warded area behind the shelf he was standing beside. He found Stiles waiting for him. He was watching Kate with his guns partially raised and ready.

Kate snarled, “You’re lying!”

Peter smirked as he said, “I admit I have a tendency to exaggerate things. But in this case the truth is so much more fun. Oh, I'm sorry, sweetheart, that little pendant is just a physical object to focus on. It's training wheels. Talia used it to teach Laura. I tried to use it to teach Derek.”

Kate spun around to demand answers from Derek but she couldn’t find him so she turned back to Peter as he said, “Derek gave up on it back when he learned another way to control the shift. When I taught him. I taught him to use emotion. To use anger. And to focus on it. To feel every ounce of rage and hatred that he could summon. It was the anger that taught him control. So you want to learn to control it?”

Peter looked at Kate with a sneer and he let the information settle in, he changed to his beta shift and he roared, “You want to get angry, Kate. Let's get angry!”

Before she could do more than snarl, Peter yelled, “Now!” And she was surrounded by the various members of the pack who were armed or shifted and ready to attack.

She held her hands up defensively and she said, “We just need the talisman and then we will be on our way.”

Stiles shot out her left knee and he said, “Lie. Try again.”

Peter crouched down in front of her where she had collapsed to the floor and he said softly, “How did you know about the vault?”

Kate answered fearfully, “Derek told me, that’s why I de-aged him.”

Stiles shot out the other knee as he said, “Lie.”

Derek snarled, “I never told you that. I never ever once told you about the vault. In fact, I never actually gave you any information you didn't already know about my family or the house, yet you left me to think I had led to my entire pack dying.”

Kate rolled her eyes and she said in a dismissive tone, “Oh boo-hoo. So a pack of dogs died like the mongrels they are. Who cares!”

Peter smirked, “Oh, are you honestly trying the ‘suicide by wolf’ ploy?” The pack around her started to laugh. In a sing-song voice Peter said, “It’s not going to work.”

Stiles gave her a hard look before he demanded, “You might as well give up your co-conspirators, you are a dead kitty walking either way.”

Kate shook her head and she said, “Not going to happen, sweetie. Do you think you can kill me? You don’t have the balls.”

Everyone else laughed at her as they knew full well Stiles was morally grey and would kill to protect his pack and his alpha.

Stiles asked Chris, “Will we get anything else out of her?”

Chris shook his head and said, “No, she was trained to never give up secrets even under torture, and honestly, she doesn’t believe that normal non-hunting humans are a threat.”

As Kate whipped her head around to glare at her brother, Stiles muttered, “She was also trained to kill herself if she was turned and she failed to do that.”

Stiles looked at Chris then at Peter and he asked, “Do you want to do the honors?”

Chris closed his eyes and he shook his head, even if she was a complete psycho she was still family. Stiles looked at Peter who nodded and waved his hand in a go-ahead gesture. 

Stiles glanced at Derek who just looked pissed so he asked, “Do you want to do it? Kill her and avenge your family?”

Derek shook his head, “No thanks,” He shuddered, “I already need a shower from her pedo level bad touching earlier.”

Stiles raised his gun and he fired, the shot hitting right between the eyes.

Jackson snarked, “Well, that was anti-climactic. I am going to check on the team outside.”

Stiles called out, “Take the twins with you, just in case, I am pretty sure she was working with someone who knew about the vault.”

Ethan and Aiden bounded up the steps to follow Jackson.

Stiles turned to Peter and he suggested, “Why don’t you send her head to the hunter's council with our evidence? Include her recent activities as well.”

Peter and Chris both nodded in agreement. Peter said, “We’ll take care of it, Stiles. Go check on your dad. Take Derek with you.”

Stiles and Derek slowly made their way up the stairs to the entrance and they were shocked to see his dad and Tara placing someone in cuffs. Stiles asked, “Dad?”

Noah smiled and he said, “We caught him about to throw military-grade flash bangs down the stairs. We have confiscated them as they are illegal for private use in the state of California, we are going to send them away to be inspected to see what they were loaded with. Depending on their payload depends on the charges we will file. At the minimum he is going to be facing illegal weapons possession charges.” 

Stiles grinned and he said, “Awesome. Kate’s dead. For good this time.”

Noah smirked when he felt the flinch from his suspect. Stiles saw it and he snarked, “It looks like you just arrested Kate’s co-conspirator. Maybe see if you can add kidnapping to the list. Maybe check his financials and see if Kate paid him to help.”

Tara returned with the cruiser and they bundled their suspect into the backseat. The suspect yelled, “Just you wait, the Argents will get me out on bail before you can sneeze.”

Noah laughed and he said, “Which one? Kate and Gerard are both dead and Allison is in jail, there is no one else left who would be even remotely sympathetic to your arrest.”

Stiles asked, “Are we good to go daddio?”

Noah nodded and he said, “Yeah, you kids head off, I am sure you will have homework to do.”

Stiles put his arm around Derek’s shoulder and led him to Roscoe. He whispered, “Let’s go get ice cream.”

Derek laughed and he put his arm around Stiles’ waist as he said, “Lead the way noble knight.”

-x-

A week later and Derek was still a teenager, they were no closer to finding the specific spell as it didn’t appear to be in any of the books the Hales owned or had access to. Even Deaton's library gave them no answers.

Deaton had checked Derek over himself and he couldn’t find a reason why Derek hadn’t changed back. He did see signs of an incomplete ritual but it didn’t seem to be negatively affecting Derek so they weren’t worried about it. They did add it to the list of details about the ritual just in case it was important.

Chris was in touch with the Argent family in France trying to get information about houses that Kate might have had access to in the USA or Mexico to see if she had left the books or notes there.

Danny and Peter had worked together to get Derek registered to join the rest of the teen members of the pack at Beacon Hills High School. They had pulled his transcripts from the High School he attended in New York and they combined them with his old Beacon Hills transcripts. Danny had managed to alter them and enter them into the system so they appeared to be recent rather than 6 years old. 

Derek wasn’t excited to be going back to Beacon Hills High but Stiles had promised to help him catch up on anything he might have missed. He was registered as Cora’s cousin to prevent any questions about how close in age they are.

Derek’s first few days of classes went smoothly. He shared classes with either Stiles or another pack member or two who were able to help him with any gaps he had between his high school in New York and Beacon Hills. As they were all leaving on Friday Scott approached them in the car park.

Scott demanded, “Who is this?”

Derek frowned, the pack had warned him that Scott held a grudge against anything Hale. He decided on a charm offensive and he held his hand out for Scott to shake as he said, “Hi, I’m Derek Hale.”

Scott moved back as if scalded and he hissed at Stiles, “What the hell are you trying to pull now Stiles.”

Stiles laughed, “Wow, so now it’s all my fault?”

Scott screamed, “YES! Everything is your fault. You dragged me out to the preserve and started this whole mess. I am sure you have something to do with, well, that!” He pointed at Derek who just looked offended on Stiles' behalf.

Stiles turned to see the rest of the pack laughing at the ridiculousness of the statement. He saw that Jackson had pulled out his phone and that he was quietly recording the confrontation. Stiles took a step toward Scott who stepped back in surprise. He stated, “So I dragged you kicking and screaming to the preserve? You were bound somehow?”

Scott shook his head, “No, but…”

Stiles interrupted him and louder he said, “So when my Dad found us you didn’t hide from the deputies?”

Scott shook his head again and he said, “Well, yes, but…” He looked around and he saw that the twins and Boyd were keeping people away from the confrontation so he screamed, “That's beside the point, Derek took away my only chance to be human.”

Stiles stalked toward Scott and with pure rage on his face he started zapping him with lightning as he poked him in the chest with each word as he said, “That. Was. A. Fucking. Fairy. Tale. You fucking potato.”

He looked and saw that people were trying to listen in so quieter he said, “I showed you proof that it doesn't work time and time again. Accounts from various alphas who tried it and just ended up becoming untrained alphas. Alphas who then nearly died at the hands of hunters who pushed them into becoming feral. I can’t believe you are still blaming the Hales for your bite when it was the actions of Kate fucking Argent that caused it in the first place. Derek wasn’t even in town when you were bitten. You’re a fucking idiot.”

Scott demanded, “What about Allison, are you trying to tell me that wasn’t your fault? That you didn’t get her arrested and jailed?”

Stiles looked at Scott like he was mud on his shoes and he snarled, “She brought that shit on herself when she kidnapped Erica and Boyd and tortured all three of us.” Stiles pulled up his shirts and he showed Scott the large scar on his chest and he said, “This is the direct result of Allison beating me so hard with a shock stick, an illegal fucking shock stick, that she shattered my rib. Not broke, fucking shattered. Even her father agreed that she was in the wrong.”

“Damn it, Stiles,” Scott screamed, “You are supposed to be my best friend, brothers forever. Some friend you turned out to be.”

Derek walked up to Stiles, pulled on the shirts so Stiles would let them go and he wrapped him up in a hug to try and calm him down. He turned to Scott and he said, “Just go. You’re delusional and out of your damn mind. You need to seriously consider Alpha Ito’s proposal before you go feral.”

The pack all started to get in their cars and Lydia turned to Scott. She said, “You need to start taking responsibility for your own actions, Scott. Your refusal to join a pack is just going to get you killed.”   



	10. Chapter Ten

**December 2011**

Jackson stormed into the loft and he loaded up the video of the confrontation before he passed his phone to Peter. He snarled, “Someone needs to end him.”

Peter watched the video with Chris looking over his shoulder. Chris put his hand on Peter’s shoulder to still him as he said, “Send it to yourself and we will go and get Noah’s opinion. He’s up in the office doing paperwork.”

Peter sent the video to himself, Chris and Noah. He was tempted to send it through to Melissa but she was just as delusional as her son these days.

They entered the office and saw Noah seething as he watched the video. He commented, “The kids all did well, not a single shift or eye flash from any of them except Scott. Thankfully they kept his back to the crowd.”

Peter asked, “Should we send this through to Alpha Ito? What about Melissa?”

Noah thought about it and he said, “Definitely send it to Alpha Ito. Skip Melissa though, I think it’s time we involve his father.”

Chris asked, “The FBI agent?”

Noah nodded, “Yeah, he’s supposed to have partial custody of Scott but Scott always refuses to visit. Rafe has never fought it but he has kept a log of all the refusals. He has kept in touch with me so I can keep him updated on how Scott is doing.”

Peter suggested, “Why don’t you invite him to visit so we can fill him in on the pack before we show him the video.”

After a brief text conversation Noah confirmed that Rafe would be at the loft for dinner with the pack.

Chris looked at Peter and he was worried that Peter would go after his failure of a beta before they could try the proper channels. He glanced at Noah and saw the same worry on his face. As one they stood and started to push Peter back to the sofa at the back of the office, they each followed him down to the sofa and pinned him down by straddling his thighs and working as a team to keep him distracted until Rafe arrived.

Downstairs Stiles was helping Derek finish his chemistry homework and he whispered to Derek, “They have been up there for a while now.”

Derek whispered back, “Shouldn’t they have come down to let us know what’s going on?”

Stiles shrugged and decided to forget about it for now while they finished up their homework. After an hour their homework was all done and there was still no sign of the men. The rest of the teens had settled down to play some Mario Kart while Derek was finishing up.

Derek looked at Stiles to get his attention then he flicked his eyes toward the stairs as if to ask, ‘shouldn’t we check on them?’

Stiles shrugged and he looked at his watch and he realized they had been up there for over an hour and a half now so he nodded in agreement. They quietly made their way up the stairs so as not to alert the pack to where they were headed.

They tiptoed toward the office and quietly opened the door when Derek indicated that the soundproofing was active. When they cracked the door open they could hear moans from the three men and they looked to each other and smirked. Stiles pulled out his phone and he loaded the camera app so he could use it to scan the room.

Derek was quick to pull Stiles’ arm back when they saw the three men entangled on the sofa. He quietly closed the door then pushed Stiles back to the stairs, they ran down and squished into the love seat before they burst out into giggles.

Stiles whispered into Derek’s ear, “I knew he was protesting too much!”

Derek whispered, “You have to admit that was hot though.”

Stiles snickered, “I shouldn’t, that was my dad and your Uncle but yeah, OMG.”

Derek asked, “Do you think they heard us?”

Stiles snorted, “I think they might have been a bit too distracted with each other to hear anything.”

In the meantime the rest of the pack were looking between the giggling pair on the love seat, and the stairs wondering what had set them off.

Jackson was about to ask but Cora covered his mouth and just muttered, “Don’t ask.”

The wolves all looked to the door as footsteps approached. The pack was all present and the adults were all upstairs. Stiles looked at Derek and he asked, “How many?”

Derek replied, “Just one. He smells of gunpowder but not wolfsbane.”

Stiles shrugged and he stood, he picked up a handgun from the safe under the stairs and held it behind his back as he opened the sliding loft door.

“Mr. McCall?” Stiles asked with a bit of confusion in his voice. “What are you doing here?”

Rafe smiled at Stiles and he said, “Your father invited me for dinner. May I come in.”

Stiles glanced at Derek who nodded.

Stiles with his free hand gestured for Rafe to enter the loft before he shut the door.

Stiles called out, “Cora can you get Dad, Chris, and your Uncle, please. They have the soundproofing active so you will need to crack the door before you knock. Whatever you do, do not just barge in, I don’t have enough eye bleach for that experience.”

Cora scowled and she left to follow his instructions.

Stiles turned to Mr. McCall and he waved him to the sofas as he moved to stand behind Derek and he said, “Take a seat. Dad should be down, umm, shortly, maybe.”

Derek snickered, “He was a little busy.”

Danny stood and he asked, “Can we get you something to drink? Soda, beer, coffee?”

Rafe smiled at the teens as he took a seat and he shook his head, “I’m good thanks, I grabbed a coffee as I was driving through town.”

They heard Cora yell, “Stiles!” Before she thundered down the stairs and Derek leaped over the back of the love seat to stand between her and Stiles as she yelled, “You didn’t warn me about the fucking noises, Stiles. I need ear bleach now. OMFG.”

Rafe snickered and he asked Stiles, “Your dad finally moved on?”

Stiles smiled softly and he nodded in agreement.

Rafe asked, “Do I know her?”

Stiles laughed and he shook his head as he flailed at the three men who were blushing as they descended the stairs.

Rafe laughed as he asked Noah, “Both of them?”

Noah blushed as he nodded, he shook Rafe’s hand as he said, “It’s good to see you, Rafe. It’s been a while.”

Rafe nodded, he motioned his head toward Peter and he said, “Long enough that you are in the Hale Pack now?”

Noah raised a judgemental eyebrow and Stiles let his hand with the gun drop to his side. The wolves slowly letting their claws out at the obvious threat.

Stiles with a cold look on his face that wasn’t there a moment ago asked, “Do we have a problem?”

Rafe was surprised at the speed that the pack moved to attack mode and he held his hands up in a surrender position. As he started to slowly move his hand to his pocket as he said, “I am just grabbing my badge and business card.”

Noah held his hand out for the items and his eyebrows raised in surprise when he read the business card. He handed it to Peter as he gestured for the pack to stand down. 

Stiles moved to put the gun back in the safe under the stairs. Before he moved to Peter to sneak a look at the business card. He whistled and he stated, “I had no idea the FBI knew of the supernatural.”

Peter snarked, “Well, that should make this discussion easier. Let’s all sit.” He turned to Jackson and asked, “You got that video handy?”

Jackson pulled out his phone and he queued up the video before handing the phone over. Peter turned to Rafe and he asked, “What would you prefer first, a brief history lesson or the crux of the problem?”

Rafe held his hand out for the phone and he pushed play on the video. 

While he was watching Peter pulled out his phone and called their favorite Pizza place and placed a large order to be delivered, he could foresee this being a long evening.

The agent scrubbed his face with his hands after watching his son flip out and he asked, “How close is he to feral and why isn’t he in a pack.”

Stiles held up two fingers almost touching and he said, “He's about this close, to be honest. He didn’t even care that half the school was watching. As for joining a pack Alpha Ito has made several overtures to both him and Mrs. McCall but he refuses to join. This pack is not an option after he helped Gerard Argent force Derek to give him the bite.”

Rafe asked, “Speaking of Derek, where is he?”

Derek raised his hand from where he was standing beside Stiles and he waved.

Rafe shook his head and he explained, “No, I mean Alpha Derek Hale.”

Derek chuckled and he flashed his red eyes and said, “Yeah, still me. I was kidnapped recently by Kate Argent who de-aged me and we haven’t found a way to reverse it yet.”

Rafe asked, “I thought she died at the beginning of the year? Wasn’t there a funeral?”

Chris nodded he wiggled his hand in that familiar so-so motion and he explained, “She did, and she didn’t.”

Rafe asked, “Sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

Chris smirked as he said, “I am Chris Argent of the Argent hunting family. Peter ripped Kate’s throat out while he was the alpha before he was himself killed due to his insanity.”

Rafe dropped his head and he asked, “She turned?”

Peter nodded, “She did, we only found out after she kidnapped Derek. We are not entirely sure what happened between her dying the first time and the kidnap. Just some vague unhelpful comments from Araya Calavera about her being La Loba and trying to control the Berserkers.”

Rafe asked, “So, I want to get back to that but first, how did Scott get into all this?”

Stiles blushed and he said, “That was partly my fault. I heard over the radio I don’t have that Dad was looking for half a dead body in the preserve so I dragged Scott out to look for it.”

Rafe snorted, “As if he protested, he’s a stubborn little bastard, if he didn’t want to go he wouldn’t have gone. So he ended up alone in the preserve and got bitten?”

Peter nodded, “A combination of factors meant that when I awoke from my coma was, well…”

Stiles interrupted, “He was fucking batshit insane through no fault of his own and he was hellbent on revenge on those who killed his family.”

Rafe nodded, “Right, so then how did that end up with Scott siding with Gerard Argent?”

Chris rolled his eyes and spoke before Stiles could unleash his thoughts about the location of Scott’s lone brain cell and he said, “He was dating my daughter, Allison. After my wife died Allison flipped out and refused to have anything to do with anyone involved with the supernatural. Gerard used the possibility of talking Allison into dating him again to get Scott onside.”

Jackson snarked, “He also used me to threaten his mother to force his compliance.”

Rafe asked, “How would another wolf do that?”

Jackson replied, “I wasn’t a wolf at the time. My turning didn’t go as smoothly as the others and I ended up as a Kanima. First under the control of a homicidal high school student, Matt Dahler, then under the control of Gerard Argent when he killed Matt.”

Rafe looked at him with raised eyebrows and he exclaimed, “Jesus!” He turned to the three adults and he asked, “I know Gerard is dead. What about Kate? Is there anything else I need to know?”

Noah rubbed the back of his neck in a move often mirrored by Stiles and he said, “Kate attempted with an accomplice to rob the Hale Vault last week, she died and her accomplice is currently awaiting trial for accessory to kidnapping and illegal weapons charges. He was an orderly at Eichen House. Oh and we took out the alpha pack, well most of it.”

Rafe asked seriously, “Who specifically?”

Derek raised his hand and he said, “Apparently I took out Ennis when we rescued Boyd and Cora just before I was kidnapped.”

Peter gestured toward the twins, “We stole Aiden and Ethan who were there under duress. They helped us lure in Kali and I took her out.”

Stiles crossed his arms and he flailed as he encompassed the teens of the pack as he said, “We still don’t know exactly what happened with Deucalion.”

Peter blushed, “He snuck up on us while Noah and Chris were teaching me to shoot at the range.”

Rafe asked, “How does someone sneak up on an experienced werewolf hunter, a sheriff who was an army ranger, and an alpha werewolf.”

All three men were blushing and Peter muttered, “We were preoccupied.”

Cora snorted and snarked, “I hope he enjoyed the floor show.”

Chris snarked back, “He did say we didn’t have to stop on his account.”

Rafe asked, “Wait, he attacked at the range? While all of you were armed?”

Peter snorted, “Yes, he monologued for a bit then pounced at Noah while we were all still armed. He was dead before he landed.”

Rafe asked, “You are sure they are definitely dead? I only ask because Peter, you died and yet you’re here?”

Stiles snorted, “He got better.”

Chris confirmed, “We made sure they were disposed of in such a way that would prevent discovery and resurrection.”

Rafe stood and he said, “I have to make a call, is there a soundproof room I can use?”

Peter nodded and he moved to the stairs, to escort Rafe to the office. Rafe turned to Derek and he said formally, “Alpha Hale, can you join me? I need to call my unit chief and they may have questions.”

Derek pointed at Peter and he said, “Peter is currently acting as Pack Alpha while we research my age issue, he will be able to answer any questions you have.”

Rafe looked to Peter to get his agreement and Peter just waved him up the stairs. As they walked Peter called out, “Save us some pizza, it should be here soon.”

Twenty minutes later the pair descended the stairs and retook their seats each taking the plate of pizza that was handed to them.

Rafe explained, “Deucalion, Kali, and Ennis were on our most wanted board, we have one specifically for supernaturals. They were numbers 1, 2, and 6 respectively. My Unit Chief is heading over to speak to those involved and get the details just so we can close their cases.”

Stiles asked, “Are we in trouble?”

Rafe shook his head and he reassured, “Not at all. In fact, my Unit Chief wants to create an alliance with your pack. He is also coming to deal with Scott, he will be giving Melissa an ultimatum that Scott either joins the Ito pack, or another approved pack or else he will be sent to one of our holding facilities for omega wolves. The video shows he doesn’t care about keeping his change a secret and one of the functions of my unit is to keep the secret of the supernatural from getting out. If he does join Alpha Ito’s pack he will be monitored closely for a decent period.”

Rafe looked at Derek and he said, “He is also bringing some of the books from the Aztec section of our library that we think might contain the spell used to de-age you. Also your pack researchers will be given the contact details of our research team once an NDA is signed.”

Stiles rubbed his hands together in glee as he sighed, “Awesome.”

Derek leaned over and he whispered, “Can I talk to you, in private?”

Stiles looked around to see if anyone was paying attention, Danny and Lydia were talking quietly at the dining table, most likely about the possibility of getting access to a large supernatural library. Jackson, Boyd, Aiden, and Ethan were battling hard on the rainbow road with Cora and Isaac cheering them on and heckling them. He then turned to look at the adults and saw them deep in discussion about the possible alliance. He grabbed Derek’s hand and interlaced their fingers as he dragged him upstairs to the soundproof office.

He sat them down on the sofa and he giggled as he saw Derek wrinkle his nose in distaste at the lingering smell. He asked, “What’s up?”

Derek looked apprehensive before he blurted out, “I don’t want to go back.”

Stiles asked, “Back where?”

Derek snickered, “Not where, when. I don’t want to be old again.” He saw Stiles about to dispute that he was old, and he said quickly, “Look, I get it, we should research and make sure this won’t bite us in the ass later. But if there is an option to not fix it then I want to take that option.”

Stiles sat back and he contemplated Derek before he asked, “Why?”

Derek shrugged and he explained, “Lots of reasons, but mostly, because this gives me a second chance without the metric fuck-tonne of guilt it sounds like the older version of me is carrying around. Uncle Peter is willing to teach me how to be a good alpha which I don’t think I had before.”

Stiles asked quietly, “Is that the only reason?”

Derek shook his head and he pulled Stiles so he ended up straddling his lap and he leaned forward into Stiles and he whispered, “I don’t want to lose you. I know from talking to the others that you were dating the older version of me but that he was resistant and still holding back, even with you. He knew you were his mate but he wouldn’t let go and accept it, I don't want to be like that. I don’t want to be so closed off to everyone and everything that I can’t accept that I am falling in love with you.” 

Stiles smiled and he leaned in closer and he murmured, “Can I kiss you?”

Derek nodded and he leaned in to meet Stiles in the middle. As first kisses go it was fairly tame but to the two of them it was perfect.

Stiles murmured, “It doesn’t matter to me if you stay this age or return to the older version of you. I will be happy as long as I get to keep you.”

They spent some time slowly making out and getting comfortable with each other until they were interrupted by Peter entering the office.

He stalked in and he leaned against the desk and he crossed his arms. With a raised eyebrow he asked, “You seriously snuck off for nookie?”

Stiles laughed as he moved to sit beside Derek on the sofa and he shook his head, “No, that’s not why we snuck off, it was an unexpected but not unwelcome result of the conversation we actually snuck away to have.”

Peter asked in a deadpan tone, “Which was?”

Derek said quietly, “I don’t want to return to the older version of me. I don’t want to be that guy. He is closed off and seems to be a bit of a dick. I have enjoyed getting to know the pack and I don’t want to lose that.”

Peter asked, “And what you were doing with Stiles has nothing to do with that decision?”

Stiles made an indignant noise but Derek quietened him with a hand on his knee as he said, “A little bit, but, look the Derek you knew had been through hell and back and on the way through he was chewed up and spat out again. Between Paige, Kate, and Laura he is a fucking head case with a metric fuck-tonne of guilt.”

Peter growled, “Language.” Before he looked contemplative and he asked, “What do you mean Laura, why lump her in with Kate?”

Derek explained, “The Laura that I remember from a few weeks ago, wouldn’t let me sneeze without permission, it took me months before I could convince her to let me even attend high school, it’s why I am a year behind where I should be.”

Stiles took over the explanation, “From what the older version told me Derek told Laura about Kate their first Christmas in New York, just after his 18th birthday. From there she got even worse, wouldn't give him any financial freedom, refused to let him leave New York and she refused to even touch him after he told her about Kate. Whenever they were together she spent the whole time telling him how weak he was and how he got his entire family killed. If I could resurrect her I would spend months torturing her before I put her down again for what she put him through.”

Derek pulled Stiles into a hug to calm him down as he could see the anger rising on both Stiles and Peter. He looked at his uncle and he implored, “I don’t want those memories back Uncle Peter. I just want to have this second chance.”

Peter nodded, “Ok pup. Rafe’s Unit Chief has left us some papers to read through and you two need to be involved in the alliance discussions as the pack alpha and second. I will be involved as the left hand and current interim alpha. He is aware of the situation and Danny and Lydia are going through the books he brought with him to see if they can find the de-aging ritual Kate used.”

Stiles rubbed his back when he felt Derek flinch and he said, “Remember you said they need to find the ritual to make sure it doesn’t bite us in the ass later.”

Derek stood and he pulled Stiles up with him and he said, “Let’s go negotiate us an alliance.” He turned to his uncle and he asked, “You promise to teach me how to be a good alpha? I don’t want to be a fuck up like Laura.”

Peter pulled Derek into a hug and he whispered, “I promise I will teach you everything your grandparents taught your mother and I. You will be a great alpha just like Tally was.”

Derek murmured, “Thanks, Uncle Peter.”

They started the walk downstairs and Stiles asked, “So no more Scott at school?”

Peter shook his head, “No. They have taken Alpha Ito with them to explain the risks of being Omega and so she can reiterate the invitation to her pack. They also have a copy of the video Jackson shot and the photographic evidence of what Allison and Gerard did in the basement with Scott’s knowledge. Allison confessed that Scott knew they would likely kill Stiles if not in the basement they would leave him with injuries that would kill him. Melissa will have to choose tonight and Scott will be moving schools starting Monday either at Devonford Prep or at the omega facility.”

Stiles sighed in relief. He had been starting to hate going to school and that was a bad attitude for one of the top students to have. He looked around and he noticed that the teenagers had all left. He looked at Peter and silently asked with a raised eyebrow, ‘where is everyone.’

Peter smirked and he said, “Jackson got bored with all the alliance talk so he invited the rest of the pack over to his place for more gaming as his parents are in Italy again.”

When they reached the table Lydia slid an open book over to them with a triumphant look on her face. She said, “I think we found it.”

Stiles walked over and he picked up the book with Derek looking over his shoulder, after he had finished reading he asked, “This says that the caster has to end the spell when their goal is reached. That this is the only way to reverse the de-aging.”

Lydia said, “That’s not all, read the next page.”

Stiles quickly read the page then he looked up panicked, “Tell me this won’t happen! I mean it says that the spell only has these effects if the spell is reversed by the caster. Is there anything in the book about verifying that he’s fine or what the results are of an interrupted ritual?”

Peter asked, “What does it say?”

Stiles gulped as he said, “When the ritual is ended and the subject is returned to their correct age if another specific ritual isn’t done at La Iglesia then the subject will start losing what makes them supernatural and it often leads to the death of the subject.”

Danny nodded, “It’s ok, the ritual was unmistakably interrupted, when she started it she would have specified an age or date she wanted to return him to as part of the ritual. When that was reached the wall he was hidden behind would have opened on its own. By smashing the wall and removing him before it was finished the de-aging process was halted and he will age normally from now on.”

Stiles tapped the book and he said, “I would be reluctant to return him to his real age, based on what I am reading here there is no guarantee that he will come out of it ok.”

Lydia said, “I want to talk to the researchers to double-check, but yes, I would be hesitant to try and mess with his age again.”

Derek said, “No. Feel free to double-check with them that there will be no side effects but I want to stay the age I am.”

They spent some time reading through the alliance agreement the Unit Chief brought with the books and they were happy to see that if anything bigger than they could handle came to Beacon Hills that they could call the FBI for help in dealing with it. There was also a section where Rafe could sponsor pack members who wanted to join the supernatural unit of the FBI to go through training at Quantico.

Stiles and Derek read through it and they both added post-it comments to various sections before it was passed over to Peter for a read.

Peter asked, “What did you think?”

Stiles nodded, “Overall it looks good, better than I expected from an alphabet agency. I like the idea of being sponsored into Quantico, and being able to call for help is awesome too.”

Derek commented, “I like the idea of having their research team on hand if we need them. I remember mom struggled with all the different creatures that went through Beacon Hills. She used to call in a friend to help her. That's when I used to babysit Mischief.”

Noah snorted and he snarked, “I always wondered what Claudia and Talia were getting up to. The supernatural was not on that list.”

Peter smiled and he added, “Claudia was a Spark like Stiles. She had knowledge of a great many creatures that are from Europe from old Gajos family stories. She and Talia were great friends and I know Talia was gutted when Claudia passed away.”

Stiles tapped the contract in front of him, uncomfortable with discussions of his mother and he asked, “Is this right for the pack?”

Surprisingly it was Chris that answered, “Yes, definitely. Word will get around that there is an alphabet agency working with the Hale Pack to help keep their territory safe. It will also leak that they are working to hunt down the rogue creatures that give supernaturals a bad name. I think it will be a turning point for all of us. Packs, covens, kisses, and even hunters.”

Stiles grinned, “Maybe the FBI can suck in the legit hunting families and get them working to the law instead of an arbitrary code that half of them ignore.”

Chris nodded in agreement, “We can hope.”

Peter walked to the door and he opened it just as Rafe and an older gentleman were walking toward it from the elevator.

Rafe introduced the Unit Chief, “Stiles, Alpha Hale this is my Unit Chief, Gibson Grey. He oversees the various supernatural units around the country.”

Gibson reached his hand out and he shook first Derek’s hand with a brief flash of supernatural blue eyes then Stiles. 

Stiles returned the introduction, he said, “Unit Chief Grey this is Derek Hale, the Alpha of the Hale pack and I am Mieczysław Stilinski, but please for the love of kittens call me Stiles, I am the Hale Pack second, the alpha mate, and I am also in training to be the next emissary.”

They spent a few hours hashing out the full alliance agreement, they made sure to include clauses that related to Chris and the duties he undertook as a hunter, and they also made sure they also firmed up what either side could request assistance for. This was the first alliance of its kind between a pack and a unit of an alphabet agency but they hoped it would be the first of many. 

Before they left Rafe confirmed that Scott had, with prodding from Melissa, joined the Ito pack and he would be living with Satomi as he got used to pack life as well as the transition to a new school. He confirmed that Melissa tried to lump all the blame on Stiles but Rafe said Unit Chief Grey shut that down using the video where Stiles confirmed that Scott could have left the preserve but chose to stay hidden from the sheriff and make his own way home. Rafe also advised that Melissa has been told to stay away from all pack members and that any breaches would result in an official restraining order which would affect her ability to work at the hospital.

After everyone had left, Peter and Chris joining Noah at the Stilinski house for the night, Derek and Stiles snuggled up on their favorite love seat.

Derek snuggled into Stiles’ side and he ignored the TV in the background as he murmured, “I don’t care what’s ahead of us, as long as I get to keep you.”

Stiles smiled at him and he kissed his cheek and he said, “You and me Sourwolf, mates forever.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
